KPIs for Measuring Hybrid Project Performance

Hybrid projects, combining elements of traditional waterfall and agile methods, are becoming the norm. As a result, you need some changes to Key Process Indicators (KPIs) to manage the success of this type of project. Here’s a set of KPIs that help measure performance in a hybrid project environment.

Schedule management

• For project areas using waterfall, track on-time task completion rates against the baseline schedule. Calculate this by dividing the number of tasks completed on time by the total number of tasks completed.
  • Formula: completed on-time tasks / total tasks completed

• For agile project areas, calculate on-time feature completion rates. Calculate this by dividing the number of features completed as planned within the sprint plan by the total number of features completed.
  • Formula: features completed as planned within the sprint plan / total features completed

• To determine the overall schedule management KPI, combine the results from the task and feature completion rates.  Here’s an example:
  • 8 on-time tasks with 10 total waterfall tasks completed
  • 29 on-time features with 30 total features completed 
  • Hybrid Task/Feature KPI
    • (On-time task completions + On-time feature completions)/(Total task and feature completions)
    • KPI result: (8+29)/40= 92.5%
    • Note: Basic hybrid projects should target 90% or more as a task/feature timeliness KPI; complex projects should target 80-85% or more.

Budget Management

• For waterfall project areas, track costs per task. 
• For agile areas, track the actual cost to build the tasks delivered to the client. (That’s because quickly delivering usable functions to the business is a standard characteristic of agile projects.) This cost typically consists of agile team staffing costs, plus any equipment required to make functions usable. Compare this cost to the business value generated using the delivered functions, that is the cost savings from using those functions). Use these values to calculate the return on investment (as defined in the PMBOK7 test guide).
• Here’s an example:
  • Return on investment KPI formula: Value added to the business / Cost of producing delivered functions
    • Cost to produce functions: $20,000
    • Cost savings using those functions: $30,000
    • Ratio = 30000/20000 = 1.5, indicating a 150% return on investment
  • Hybrid budget KPI formula: return on investment for the total business value created / actual cost for tasks or features delivered to the client

• Note: Calculating the business value created by deliverables can sometimes take several months to realize. In those cases, this KPI is a demonstration of project effectiveness. When business value can be quickly realized (or projected, based on early results), then this KPI can show trends in the project’s effectiveness as it progresses. As an alternative, for business value that takes time to be realized, you can calculate return on investment, which accounts for the time value of money. Here’s a video that explains how to calculate financial ROI: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/supply-chain-and-operations-management-tips/calculate-return-on-investment

Scope Management

• Calculate a hybrid scope stability KPI. This KPI measures scope changes for controlled and approved changes in waterfall area, and new features added to agile areas. Note: Re-prioritization of agile features is NOT considered a scope change and does not appear in this calculation.
  • Formula: (Current number of waterfall requirements + current number of agile features) / (Initial number of waterfall requirements + initial number of agile features)
  • Note: Initial requirements and features are the number of each at the start of the project. The current number is the original number plus additions since the start of the project: approved requirement additions in waterfall areas and new features added to the backlog. 
  • Projects that add a significant number of requirements or features increase risk. The target for hybrid scope stability is 1.2 or less (no greater than 20% additional requirements/features added to the project).

Quality Management

• A Hybrid Quality KPI is straightforward. Calculate the errors per deliverable.
• Formula: (number of defects discovered by the end user community) / total completed tasks and features delivered to stakeholders
• Example: 
  • 28 tasks completed and delivered to stakeholders
  • 45 features completed and delivered 
  • 17 errors identified by end users
  • Result: 17/(28+45) = .23 errors per deliverable
  • Note: Set a target for errors per deliverable based on history for the organization

If you have the data for these calculations, run them through these calcs to see how your project is doing! Do you have other recommendations for hybrid metrics? Share them with us in the comments!

 

 

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