Metrics That Matter in Scrum (—and Ones to Avoid)

A role-based, practical guide for Product Owners, Development Teams, and Scrum Masters

Introduction – Why We Measure

Scrum runs on empiricism: transparency → inspection → adaptation. Metrics supply the transparency. They are signals—never verdicts—that help everyone see reality more clearly, discuss it openly, and decide what to change next. When chosen with care, metrics illuminate value delivery, product quality, and team health; when chosen poorly, they distort behaviour, create vanity contests, or encourage cargo-cult “performance” games.

Because each Scrum role serves a different purpose, the same number can be gold for one audience and toxic for another. A Product Owner (PO) cares about business value and stakeholder confidence, the Development Team needs flow and technical quality, and the Scrum Master (SM) protects team health and the empirical process itself.

This article explores metrics from three angles, spelling out:

1. What the metric is—a concise definition.
2. Why it helps (or hurts) each role.
3. Practical tips for keeping the data honest and useful.

Use this as a menu, not a mandate. Scrum never prescribes specific numbers; good teams evolve a lightweight dashboard and retire anything that stops sparking worthwhile conversation.

1 | Product Owner Perspective: Tracking Business Value

The Product Owner is accountable for maximising product value. Outcome, not output, is their north star. The following metrics do two things: they expose how quickly valuable work reaches users, and they reveal whether that work actually solves customer problems.

Metrics to Handle With Care

• Story Points Delivered per Sprint – Forecast capacity; don’t treat as value currency.
• Deadline Compliance % – Encourages fixed-scope thinking and discourages agility.

2 | Development Team Perspective: Flow, Quality, Sustainability

Developers turn backlog items into a Done increment every Sprint. Flow efficiency and code health tell them whether that engine is humming or grinding.

Metrics to Avoid or Decouple From Performance

• Lines of Code – Rewards verbosity, punishes refactoring.
• Velocity Leaderboards – Every team’s point scale is unique; comparison invites gaming.

3 | Scrum Master Perspective: Team Health & Continuous Improvement

The Scrum Master serves the team and organisation by enabling self-management and removing impediments. Their metrics are coaching mirrors—never hammers.

Metrics to Handle With Care

• Individual Utilisation – 100 % busy-ness kills learning and quality.
• Meeting Count/Duration – Fewer meetings ≠ better communication.

Conclusion – Keeping a Living Dashboard

In Scrum, metrics are conversation starters, not report cards. When Product Owners track value, Development Teams watch flow and quality, and Scrum Masters nurture team health, the whole system aligns around empiricism. The litmus test for any metric is simple: Does it help us make a better decision today?

Keep your dashboard small, visible, and adaptable. Review it in every Retrospective; pair numbers with human insight; and drop vanity metrics before they become dogma. Measure what matters, ignore what distracts—and let transparency, inspection, and adaptation do the rest.