What are the top drivers of team performance?
At AgilityInsights, we’ve long believed in the connection between qualitative metrics (focused on maturity) and quantitative metrics (focused on performance or flow) within Agile teams. Several years ago, we adjusted our Agile team assessments to collect both types of data. Once we had a sufficient amount of data, we partnered with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Applied Psychological Services to explore the findings through our AgilityInsights platform. The key question we sought to answer was: What are the top competencies that drive teams to higher performance?
Before delving into the results, let’s first review the key metrics that define team performance. Below are the five quantitative metrics that make up the Performance Dimension within the TeamHealth® radar:
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Time-to-market
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Quality
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Predictable Delivery
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Responsiveness (Cycle Time)
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Value Delivered
During the assessment, we also asked teams and Product Owners about their confidence and happiness with their ability to meet current goals. These qualitative metrics serve as leading indicators of performance. Our aim was to identify the factors that drive both performance metrics and the subjective feelings of confidence and happiness.
Methodology
We analyzed a combination of quantitative and qualitative data from teams surveyed between November 2018 and April 2021. This involved 146 companies and a total of 4,616 teams, some of which participated in the assessment multiple times, yielding over 46,000 individual survey responses.
To identify the key drivers of team performance, we used stepwise regression. This method builds a model that explains the most predictive set of competencies for achieving the desired outcomes.
Our analysis revealed the top five drivers for each of the performance metrics in the TeamHealth® assessment, along with their corresponding “weight.” Additionally, we uncovered the top five drivers of Confidence and Happiness for both teams and Product Owners. These drivers are the best predictors for the corresponding metrics.
Key Insights
Based on the analysis, we found that teams focusing on increasing the following top drivers will experience the highest improvement in their performance metrics:
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Short Iterations
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T-shaped Team Members
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Effective Planning and Estimating
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Creativity and Self-Organization
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Role Clarity, Right-sizing, and Skill Development
The Results
After analyzing the top drivers for each of the performance metrics, we noticed that a few kept showing up as repeat drivers across quantitative performance metrics.
When analyzing the drivers for the qualitative metrics of Confidence and Happiness, we found these additional predictors:
We know from experience that in Agile teams shorter iterations, better planning and estimating, and T-shaped skills all lead to better performance—but we now have data to prove it. It was a welcome surprise to see self-organization and creativity take center stage, as it did in our analysis. We’ve always coached managers to empower teams to solve problems, but for the first time, we have the data to back it up.
Recommendations
Our findings suggest that teams can efficiently improve performance by focusing on the following drivers:
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Weekly Iterations
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T-shaped Team Members
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Effective Planning and Estimating
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Creativity and Self-Organization
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Clear Roles
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Right-Sizing and Skill Development
Teams that invested in these key drivers experienced a 37% performance improvement compared to those who did not.
See Your Team’s Data: Take Action Today
We’re excited to share that because of the importance of these results, our customers now have the ability to see how their teams are doing with the drivers for each competency inside the AgilityInsights platform. This enhancement allows companies to make informed decisions about where to invest their time and effort to improve their team’s performance.
