Agile metrics are key performance indicators (KPIs) that help measure, evaluate, and optimize the efficiency of Agile software development practices, processes, and outputs. They provide visibility into how well Agile teams are delivering value, enabling data-driven decisions, and fostering continuous improvement. Agile metrics sit under the broader umbrella of software engineering metrics, which track code quality, system performance, release velocity, and more.

Good software development teams are focused on outputs, and can bring key metrics to bear that illustrate just what the engineering organization is building on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. Developer productivity is often assessed retrospectively: if the team is hitting DORA metrics, we assume everything in the lifecycle before production is sound. But the best teams dig deeper, and aim to solve the problem backwards as well as forwards by looking at the process as well as the results.

Even the most reliable and well-designed software systems experience failures. Tracking incident response metrics helps teams strengthen both organizational preparedness and system resilience by uncovering trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. In short, important metrics for incident management are: Understanding these metrics helps engineering leaders improve service uptime, meet SLAs, and align operational capacity.