One of my “manager” friends read my thoughts on “don’t compare story points“. He responded with questions like –

• What should teams then try to improve?
• Why would we need KRAs then?
• Are we saying that KRAs are mythical?

Well, this is an interesting topic on its own. So I thanked him for providing me another topic for a separate blog 🙂 Here are my thoughts on this topic –

Let me start with an example. Let’s say that you go for a “brisk walk” every day. A few days back you came across a person who went past you, walking, and in no time distance between two of you was quite some! Then you realized that your walk wasn’t “brisk” at all 🙂 Till then you were under an impression that you were doing the best possible brisk walk every day 🙂

If you think about this, a lot of justifications would come to your mind, like – may be that person has been walking for a long time and hence now he is much better than you or he has been advised by doctor to do so…blah…blah…blah.

But then assume that you thought to do some measurements. You realized that you were able to walk average 1 km distance per 10 mins. And you walk 4 km distance each day. So you thought you should try and cover that same distance in 35 mins (9 mins per km) in 15-20 days from now. It would save you 5 mins which you will use to do some “Pranayam” 🙂

And assume that you are currently working on it. You think you will manage your “target” in a few days from now. You will be a “better brisk walker” and also will be able to do “pranayama” – which is a great 🙂

Now, let’s look at my friend’s questions –

What should the teams try to improve then?

I think broadly there are only two things that matter – 1) efficiency (more throughput each month or sprint, from the same team) and 2) effectiveness (better quality output every sprint, even if you increase your throughput).

So, will any team be expected to show improvements in these areas – absolutely yes! Forget teams, I think this applies to every individual also – all of us in our life. I should be more efficient and at the same time effective six months from now, in my personal life also 🙂

I hope you can connect this with example stated above….

Now, units of measure for these could vary – e.g productivity (or velocity), defects density, defect leakage, etc. We call them as “metrics” 🙂

Why do we need KRAs then?
Well, how would you know where you are today vis-a-vis six months from now? Something measurable should justify that we have improved. If I don’t compare against something or there is no target, I won’t know if I have become better! So KRAs are absolutely essential! So KRAs are not mythical – definitely not!

In example above – walk 4 km in 35 mins instead of 40 and also manage pranayama for 5 mins is the KRA, and will it help you improve yourself? 🙂

But then we just said – don’t compare!

Well, we never said “don’t compare”. We are just saying that don’t compare X with Y. But rather compare X with X.

Again in example above, if you had compared yourself with the other person, there were less chances that you could have done any changes. But when you “measured” YOURSELF, you will realize small possible changes (1 min less per km), that will make you better 🙂 So, you are comparing – but you with yourself – and measuring it with help of some KRAs!

So, yes improvements are needed, KRAs are needed. Just don’t make it a race between X and Y! Because in such a race nobody wins 🙂

– चिंगुडे