How are you tracking dev productivity without feeling micromanaging?
Our PM asked about adding more analytics, but most tools feel like surveillance. We’re testing out a light board analytics view in monday dev that surfaces trends without tracking individual activity. Any better approaches or we are with the best one in the market? HELPPP
Do not track dev productivity. That is a concern of the engineering manager, not the PM. If a product manager needs analytics, dig into what they are trying to accomplish. Most of the time, they are trying to understand delivery velocity in order to plan roadmaps and communications, and do not truly care about productivity of individual devs. This is why Scrum got popular - not because it is good for the devs, but because it is predictable for the PMs.
So you are on the right track of pulling info from your system. Continue to treat this as a consulting gig - work with them on metrics they can pull from your systems to give them the answers they really want. Depending on how easy they are to work with, and how open to change, suggest that they change their communication patterns, and do not promise timelines to stakeholders or customers. If they limit customer transparency to roadmaps and priorities, it is amazing how little they need to track from the devs. And in my experience, the increased autonomy that gives the dev team results in feaster delivery, anyway.
Most systems I’ve seen can be easily gamed. The ones who don’t waste time trying to game the system to look more productive are probably your most productive devs.
What exactly are you trying to measure? What is productivity? The only one that ever made sense to me was predictability. If someone says it would take x time it should take x time. But even that can be gamed. Trying to measure dev productivity analytically has been historically a fool's errand. It never makes more money for you.
What was it about when a measure becomes a metric it ceases to be a good measure, or something like that?
For me it is understanding the task and actively asking in certain intervals that don't hurt the zone. No measure can replace understanding and direct communication.