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Evidence-based Management (EBMgt™) for Software Organizations

Ken SchwaberGunther VerheyenEva Bitteker

Measure. Diagnose. Improve.

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MINConsider 5

• How is success defined in your organization?• What drives investments?• How agile are you?

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Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt™)• Roots in the medical practice.• The application of direct, objective evidence* by

managers to make decisions.• For software development, EBMgt is employed to

maximize the value of software to the entire organization.

A Matter of Managerial Culture

Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion:• Direct Evidence is the strongest type of evidence. It provides direct proof

of the validity of the assertion.• Circumstantial evidence is the weakest type of evidence. It is merely

consistent with the assertion, but doesn’t rule out contradictory assertions.

*Source: Wikipedia

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Direct Evidence of an Organization’s Value

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Direct Evidence of Value measured by Outcomes

Current Value Ability to InnovateTime to Market

Release Frequency

Release Stabilization

Cycle Time

Installed Version Index

Usage Index

Innovation Rate

Defects

Revenue per Employee

Employee Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction

Product Cost Ratio

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• Evidence of the effectiveness of teams and practices is circumstantial evidence.

• Diagnosing organizational patterns helps analyzing direct evidence.

Circumstantial Evidence Is Supportive, Not Direct

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Relating value to organizational patterns

Informs priorityMeasureDiagnose

ImproveInfluences Outcomes

More at http://evidencebasedmanagement.org

DirectEvidence

CircumstantialEvidence

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EBMgt measures thevalue of the organization.

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EBMgt diagnoseslikely contributors,

and discovers capabilities

you can build on.

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EBMgt helps youimprove byusing evidence as a driver of change

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Software supports evidence-based management through• Capture of evidence• Visualizing patterns and

trends in data• Aiding in discovery of

improvements

Learn more athttp://ebmgt.org

Applying Agility Path software to Evidence-based Management