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How human resources measures a scrum team?

Last post 07:53 am September 8, 2019 by Xander Ladage
5 replies
03:44 pm September 6, 2019

Sorry about my english, i'm not a native speaker.

I want to know, how a scrum team is involved in the humam resources measures?

Velocity, defects and achievements are valid KPIs to measure a scrum team?

Which KPIs are the valid to use the human resources to measures a scrum team?

Thank you very much


04:01 pm September 6, 2019

Hi Jorge, 

I'm not quite sure why human resources would want to measure a Scrum Team. If you're referring to a line manager there can be a variety of ways to do this. My opinion is the team should be involved in coming up with some of those measures along with the line manager. I wouldn't advocate for velocity as a performance measurement for a bunch of reasons I won't get into here. 

A line manager can have a large impact on creating and improving the environment in which the team does their work. If the line manager is a servant leader they would want to ensure the team is getting the opportunities to hone their craft, perform meaningful work, and move towards whatever their career aspirations may be. It may also involve coaching or more serious performance conversations for team members. 

You have the company policies such as attendance, conduct, etc. You'd also have the job duties that go along with the development team member role. If a self organizing team is struggling to get a certain member up to their performance standards then it would likely be appropriate to involve the line manager. 

Before imposing any type of KPI onto a team without their consent it's important to consider how this may impact their behavior or job performance. If we tell the team they'll be punished for having over 10 defects...sure they'll find a way to have less than that...but at what cost? 


04:04 pm September 6, 2019

I want to know, how a scrum team is involved in the humam resources measures?

From your reading of the Scrum Guide, do you believe a Scrum Team consists of resources to be measured?


04:19 pm September 6, 2019

Thanks for your comments  Tony Divel and  Ian Mitchell.

Both of you are right.

I'm trying  how to explain to Human Resources Manager that, because they always think that human resouces has to be measureable in the things they do.

Best wishes


04:28 pm September 6, 2019

I'm in the same boat with Jorge. HR is asking for ways of measure Scrum Team perfomance. Initially they asked for individual measurement within the team members but we talked with HR and told them that individual perfomance metrics are against Scrum but now they are looking for measurement methods for scrum teams.

Our organization is currently starting to migrate to Agile with scrum so HR is used to measure individuals and performs yearly evaluations (with results that affects possible monetary bonuses or salary raises) so they are looking on how to evaluate our teams performance. 


07:53 am September 8, 2019

If you want to measure the team, you might want to measure how often they meet their Sprint Goal, and if they deliver working / done / releasable software increments constantly.

On a personal level: team and personal happiness


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