A while back I set three targets for my engineering team. Not velocity. Not story points. Not "things shipped."

Just three numbers.

Together they tell me whether the work is moving the way it should, or whether next week is shaping up to be a fire-fighting week. I check two of them most days. The third I used to watch closely...until we lost the tool that measured it.

Here they are, and why they earned their spot.

Why these and not just velocity