Measuring What Matters: Why Agile Needs a Little Law and a Lot Less Guessing

**** IN PERSON ***
*** Agile Denver North ***

Agile teams are surrounded by data—velocity charts, burndowns, cycle time scatterplots—but how much of it actually helps us make better decisions?
In this talk, we’ll take a step back and challenge how most teams approach agile metrics.
We’ll introduce Little’s Law, a surprisingly powerful (and simple) formula that cuts through the noise and brings clarity to your metrics. No dense math or academic jargon—just real talk about how WIP, throughput, and cycle time actually work together, and what that means for your team’s flow.
We’ll also look at how misunderstanding these relationships leads to inconsistent, misleading, or even harmful metrics—and how a solid grasp of the basics can unlock better tools, smarter conversations, and more effective agile practices.
Whether you're tracking too many metrics, not enough, or just tired of debating velocity every sprint, this session offers a much-needed reset.

LOCATION!
Join Agile Denver North meetup at:
Frolic Brewing Company
12910 Zuni St, #1300
Westminster, CO 80234
Presentation Details:
Takeaways from the presentation:
- Agile development has more in common with other disciplines than maybe most of us realize.
- By keeping the interconnections of our foundational metrics in mind, we can develop more consistent and meaningful secondary metrics. (Cumulative flow diagrams are a good example.)
- Consistency with our metrics will help with future work, especially in areas such as AI.
Who should attend? managers, scrummasters, coaches. etc.:
- Scrum Master
- Agile Coach
- Product Owner
- Product Manager
- Anyone interested in agile metrics

Jason Hill:
As a data scientist working in the agile development space, he has spent more than ten years helping teams and programs/trains improve their transparency an predictability. In his spare time, he volunteers with rescued elephants in northern Thailand.

Schedule:
6:00 - 6:30 PM Wood fire pizza, drinks and networking.
6:30 - 6:40 PM Quick Announcements/sponsor recognition
6:40 - 7:40 PM Presentation and Discussion
7:40 - 7:45 PM Final Questions and Wrap Up