11. Metrics, Monitoring & Control¶
At a glance
- Module: 11 of 13 · Part IV — Control & Advanced Practice
- Sessions: S22–S24 (Weeks 11–12)
- Level: Intermediate to Advanced
- Estimated time: ~5 hours
- Prerequisites: Modules 03 and 07
Overview¶
Planning tells you what you intend to happen. Monitoring tells you what is actually happening. This module is about measuring project performance in ways that support decisions — and about resisting measurements that look precise but do not help anyone.
A recurring warning: every metric changes behaviour. Choose measurements whose side effects you are willing to live with.
Learning outcomes¶
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- Explain what makes a measurement useful for decision-making, and when it is not.
- Track progress against a baseline and interpret variance.
- Use earned-value measures (schedule and cost variance, performance indices) responsibly.
- Describe flow-based measures of work in progress, cycle time, and throughput.
- Produce a clear, honest status report.
- Recommend corrective action when a project deviates from plan.
- Recognise gaming, vanity metrics, and the harms of measuring individuals with team metrics.
Lesson plan¶
| # | Lesson | Session | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Software Project Metrics | S22 | Available |
| 02 | Monitoring and Control | S23 | Available |
| 03 | Change and Configuration Management | S24 | Available |
Good and bad measurement, earned value, and flow metrics are covered in Lesson 1; variance, tolerances, corrective action versus replanning, and reporting in Lesson 2; change control and configuration management in Lesson 3.
Lab¶
- Lab 18 — Earned Value Management — two periods of PV, EV, and AC, the indices, and a forecast.
- Lab 22 — Monitoring and Corrective Action — read leading indicators, diagnose a cause, and specify a corrective action that can be verified.
- Lab 19 — Evaluating a Change Request — impact analysis and the tolerance thresholds that route a decision.
Use the Status Report template to turn the Lab 18 and Lab 22 findings into the report the sponsor actually reads.
Case study¶
A case on a project that looked healthy on its dashboard but was not is planned. See the Case Studies overview.
Self-assessment¶
A module quiz is planned. See the Self-Assessment overview.
Key terms¶
Metric · Leading indicator · Lagging indicator · Variance · Schedule performance index · Cost performance index · Cycle time · Throughput · Status report — see the Glossary.