The Agile Executive

A Simple Metrics-Driven Software Governance Framework Based on Jim Highsmith’s Agile Triangle Framework

In my recent Cutter Blog post entitled Three Governance Metrics I recommended using just three metrics:

• Value
• Cost
• Technical debt

The heart pf this recommendation is that all three can be expressed in dollar terms as depicted in the figure above. An apples-to-apples comparison is made through the common denominator – $$. For example, something is likely to be either technically, methodically or governance-wise wrong if the technical debt figure exceeds the cost figure for a prolonged period of time. One can actually characterize such a situation as accruing debt faster than building equity.

I am often asked about adding metrics to this simple governance framework. For example, should not productivity be included in the framework?

‘Less is more’ is my usual response to such questions. IMHO value, cost and technical debt address the most important high level governance considerations:

• Value –> Why are we doing the project?
• Cost –> Can we afford the project?
• Technical debt –> Is the execution risk acceptable?

Please pay special attention to the unit of measure of any metric you might add  to this simple governance framework. As long as the metric is a dollar-based metric, the cohesion of the governance framework can be maintained. However, metrics which are not expressed in dollars will probably superimpose other frameworks on top of the simple governance framework. For example, you introduce a programming framework if you add a productivity metric which is measured in function points per man month. Sponsors who govern using value, cost, technical debt and productivity will need to mentally alternate between the simple governance framework and the programming framework whenever they try to combine the productivity metric with any of the other three metrics.