Metrics that Matter

Organisations need metrics that inform decisions, not just report activity. Metrics That Matter empowers product and delivery teams to identify measures that reveal product outcomes, customer value, and opportunities for improvement. Selecting meaningful metrics leads to better decision-making and stronger alignment between product goals, delivery efforts, and stakeholder expectations.

This on-demand micro-credential supports a data-informed culture that improves forecasting, prioritisation, and continuous improvement.

Key benefits

·       Identify metrics that reflect real value and business outcomes

·       Interpret and apply metrics to improve product decisions

·       Replace activity tracking with outcome-focused measures

·       Improve forecasting and prioritisation with data insights

·       Align teams and stakeholders through shared performance indicators

·       Build a culture of continuous improvement and performance clarity

·       Leverage metrics to reduce guesswork and elevate product impact

What you’ll learn (learning outcomes)

By the end of Metrics That Matter, you’ll be able to: 

• Distinguish between activity metrics and outcome metrics (and know when each is useful)
• Select meaningful metrics that connect delivery work to customer and business outcomes
• Use metrics in an Agile way to support learning, transparency, and continuous improvement
• Apply a small set of key metrics to improve prioritisation, forecasting, and stakeholder alignment

Why metrics matter?

When teams measure what’s easy (outputs and activity), they often optimise for speed over value. Outcome-focused metrics help leaders and teams:

• Make better product decisions with less guesswork
• Create shared clarity on what “success” looks like
• Improve alignment between strategy, delivery, and stakeholder expectations
• Identify constraints and improvement opportunities earlier

Who is this micro-credential for? 

Metrics That Matter is ideal for:

• Product leaders driving outcome performance
• Agile and delivery teams seeking meaningful insights
• Product owners, Scrum Masters, team leads, and project managers
• Business analysts focused on value metrics
• Organisations scaling Agile or hybrid delivery - Stakeholders responsible for delivery transparency

Course modules

Module 1: Introduction to Metrics

• Define metrics and determine their purpose in understanding and improving outcomes.
• Identify the key reasons behind agile metrics, including how they support agile principles and practices.
• Explain typical use cases for metrics and their impact on behavior and results in agile contexts.

Module 2: Using Metrics in an Agile Way

• Classify given agile metrics according to their type along different dimensions: Team vs. organisational, Leading vs. lagging, and Activity/output/outcome/impact.
• Explain how to enrich quantitative agile metrics with qualitative indicators to gain deeper insights.
• Distinguish which agile metrics are used for analysis, monitoring, motivation, and prediction.
• Identify and justify the most appropriate set of agile metrics to track progress for a given team context, project goals, and desired outcomes.

Module 3: Key Metrics for Agile Teams

• Understand how to apply metrics in daily work and collaborative settings to improve individual and team processes.
• Explore how to effectively communicate metrics to diverse stakeholders by tailoring presentations and adhering to ethical data visualization practices.
• Translate metric data into actionable decisions by interpreting trends and identifying root causes.
• Reflect on past reporting practices to identify areas for improvement and foster continuous refinement of communication strategies.

Assessment

In this final assessment, you’ll demonstrate your ability to interpret and apply key metrics in an agile context. Your responses will show how well you can connect the concepts from the course to practical, real-world situations, helping you reinforce your knowledge and prepare to use these skills confidently.

How is this course delivered?

Self-paced online

This on-demand course (2+ hours) is a self-paced exploration consisting of written content, images, flash cards, and other interactive modules that reinforce your knowledge of Scrum essentials. This is an interactive, text-based learning experience (not video-based).

What’s included in your course fee?

·       Access to Scrum Alliance’s official on-demand eLearning via the ITSM Hub learning portal

·       Written content, flash cards, and interactive modules to reinforce learning

·       2 hours of on-demand learning

·       A Scrum Alliance Metrics That Matter digital badge to showcase your new skills

FAQs

1. What is a micro-credential?
   Micro-credentials are short, flexible, industry-aligned qualifications that certify a specific, in-demand skill or competency. They’re designed for rapid upskilling or reskilling and are often issued as a verified digital badge you can share with employers and on social platforms like LinkedIn. Many micro-credentials can also be stackable over time toward broader learning pathways.
2. Will I receive a digital badge?
   Yes. You’ll receive a digital badge to showcase your knowledge once you complete Scrum Essentials. This micro-credential badge never expires.
3. Who is Scrum Alliance?
   Scrum Alliance is a global, not-for-profit professional membership and certification body best known for advancing Scrum and Agile practices worldwide. It supports a broad community of practitioners, coaches, and leaders through education, credentialing, and continuous learning.
4. What are Scrum Alliance micro-credentials?
   Scrum Alliance micro-credentials are bite-sized, targeted learning experiences that validate specific skills and knowledge areas. They’re ideal for professionals who want to upskill quickly, build capability for a new role or responsibility, strengthen Agile ways of working across teams, and demonstrate ongoing professional development.
5. Why do micro-credentials matter for ITSM and digital teams?
   Many IT and service organisations operate in hybrid environments, balancing ITIL/ITSM practices with Agile delivery, product management, and DevOps ways of working. Micro-credentials make it easier to build Agile capability across the organisation in a practical, low-friction way. They’re particularly valuable for service management professionals working alongside Agile delivery teams, product and platform teams, leaders reinforcing Agile behaviours without long programs, and teams adopting Scrum who need a consistent baseline.
6. Are micro-credentials worth it?
   Micro-credentials are a practical way to continually add new skills with fast, flexible formats. Key benefits include faster focused upskilling, role-aligned learning, practical outcomes (not just theory), cost-effective professional development, scalable capability building across teams, and stronger alignment between ITSM and Agile delivery.