In Person: When Metrics Go Bad - Avoiding Goodhart’s Law in Measuring Outcomes

TLDR
How to stop metrics from distorting behavior, and start using them to build trust, clarity, and meaningful outcomes.

Summary
Metrics are supposed to guide us — but too often, they get gamed, misused, or weaponised. From Soviet nail factories to Agile velocity charts, history shows us that when a measure becomes a target, it quickly loses its value.

In this session, we’ll explore how teams can break free from feature factory thinking, avoid common metric anti-patterns, and start using data in a way that actually helps — building alignment, reinforcing trust, and driving outcomes that matter.

You’ll hear stories of metrics gone wrong, tools for defining better outcomes, and practical steps for making data a trusted part of your culture — without overwhelming your team or your stakeholders.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, you’ll:

• Understand why metrics go bad and how Goodhart’s Law shows up in Agile and product teams.
• Learn what makes a good outcome metric (and why fewer, repeated consistently, is better than many).
• Discover how to start small by counting what matters — moving from simple counts to trends to leading and lagging outcomes.
• Recognise common metric anti-patterns and how to Goodhart-proof your metrics.
• Leave with a clear, actionable framework for living outcomes — building credibility and cultural change through repetition and consistency.

Agenda

• 5:30 to 6:00: Networking, food and drink
• 6:00 to 6:10: Welcome, announcements, and intro
• 6:10 to 6:50: Trevor de Vroome: When Metrics Go Bad - Avoiding Goodhart’s Law in Measuring Outcomes
• 6:50 to 7:00: Q&A
• 7:00 to 7:30: Networking

Sponsors
A BIG thank you to u&u Recruitment Partners (Especially Will Caporn and Chris Eggleston) for providing the venue, food, and drinks, and also to our overall sponsor PMI Agile Alliance.