# 10 Metrics Every CTO Needs to Know This post is part of our historical archive. It represents the beliefs, actions, products, and services of Code Climate as of its publication date. Today, Code Climate focuses on providing enterprise leaders the software development data, context layer, and playbooks needed to build the AI-native software organization their enterprise needs. Head to codeclimate.com to learn more. Nov 21, 2022 1 min read The most successful engineering leaders incorporate objective data into their leadership strategies. Numbers can’t substitute for a CTO’s experience and instincts, but when it comes to decision-making, leaders can use metrics in software engineering to inform their decisions and align with stakeholders. Different leaders optimize for a different set of metrics depending on company priorities and the needs of their engineering teams. Yet, if you’re introducing metrics to your team, or refining your approach to metrics, there are key measurements worth considering. At Code Climate, we’ve worked with thousands of organizations, from startups to enterprises, and we know that there are a few key metrics that have proven time and again to be valuable, even if they’re just a starting point! Whether you’re just starting to incorporate data into your leadership, or are refining your approach to measurement, these 10 metrics are important ones to consider. They can help you: - Get a handle on your organization’s Time to Market, - Ensure your team is adhering to CI/CD best practices, - Measure the quality of your code, and - Assess the efficacy of your planning processes. To find out which 10 metrics you need to know, how to apply them effectively and resolve bottlenecks, [download the ebook](/content/ebook/10-metrics-cto-needs-to-know/index.html). ## Why a Strategy Matters At the heart of every successful software engineering team is a drive for three things: 1. A culture of continuous improvement 2. The ability to move from idea to impact quickly, frequently, and with confidence 3. A software organization delivering meaningful value These goals sound simple enough, but in reality, achieving them requires more than just wishing for better performance. It takes data, action, and, most importantly, a cultural shift. And here's the catch: those three things don't come together by accident. In my experience, whenever a large-scale change fails, there's one common denominator: a lack of a cohesive strategy. Every time I’ve witnessed a failed attempt at implementing new technology or making a big shift, the missing piece was always that strategic foundation. Without a clear, aligned strategy, you're not just wasting resources—you’re creating frustration across the entire organization. ## Step 1: Define Your Purpose The first step in any successful engineering insights strategy is defining why you're doing this in the first place. If you're rolling out developer productivity metrics or an insights platform, you need to make sure there’s alignment on the purpose across the board. Too often, organizations dive into this journey without answering the crucial question: Why do we need this data? If you ask five different leaders in your organization, are you going to get five answers, or will they all point to the same objective? If you can’t answer this clearly, you risk chasing a vague, unhelpful path. One way I recommend approaching this is through the **"Five Whys"** technique. Ask why you're doing this, and then keep asking "why" until you get to the core of the problem. For example, if your initial answer is, _“We need engineering metrics,”_ ask why. The next answer might be, _“Because we're missing deliverables.”_ Keep going until you identify the true purpose behind the initiative. Understanding that purpose helps avoid unnecessary distractions and lets you focus on solving the real issue. ## Step 2: Understand Your People Once the purpose is clear, the next step is to think about who will be involved in this journey. You have to consider the following: 1. Who will be using the developer productivity tool/insights platform? 2. Are these hands-on developers or executives looking for high-level insights? 3. Who else in the organization might need access to the data, like finance or operations teams? It’s also crucial to account for organizational changes. Reorgs are common in the enterprise world, and as your organization evolves, so too must your insights platform. If the people responsible for the platform’s maintenance change, who will ensure the data remains relevant to the new structure? Too often, teams stop using insights platforms because the data no longer reflects the current state of the organization. You need to have the right people in place to ensure continuous alignment and relevance. ## Step 3: Define Your Process The next key component is process—a step that many organizations overlook. It's easy to say, "We have the data now," but then what happens? What do you expect people to do with the data once it’s available? And how do you track if those actions are leading to improvement? A common mistake I see is organizations focusing on metrics without a clear action plan. Instead of just looking at a metric like PR cycle times, the goal should be to first identify the problem you're trying to solve. If the problem is poor code quality, then improving the review cycle times might help, but only because it’s part of a larger process of improving quality, not just for the sake of improving the metric. It’s also essential to approach this with an experimentation mindset. For example, start by identifying an area for improvement, make a hypothesis about how to improve it, then test it and use engineering insights data to see if your hypothesis is correct. Starting with a metric and trying to manipulate it is a quick way to lose sight of your larger purpose. ## Step 4: Program and Rollout Strategy The next piece of the puzzle is your program and rollout strategy. It’s easy to roll out an engineering insights platform and expect people to just log in and start using it, but that’s not enough. You need to think about how you'll introduce this new tool to the various stakeholders across different teams and business units. The key here is to design a value loop within a smaller team or department first. Get a team to go through the full cycle of seeing the insights, taking action, and then quantifying the impact of that action. Once you've done this on a smaller scale, you can share success stories and roll it out more broadly across the organization. It’s not about whether people are logging into the platform—it’s about whether they’re driving meaningful change based on the insights. ## Step 5: Choose Your Platform Wisely And finally, we come to the platform itself. It’s the shiny object that many organizations focus on first, but as I’ve said before, it’s the last piece of the puzzle, not the first. Engineering insights platforms like Code Climate are powerful tools, but they can’t solve the problem of a poorly defined strategy. I’ve seen organizations spend months evaluating these platforms, only to realize they didn't even know what they needed. The key takeaway here is that your platform should align with your strategy—not the other way around. You should understand your purpose, people, and process before you even begin evaluating platforms. ## Looking Ahead To build a successful engineering insights strategy, you need to go beyond just installing a tool. An insights platform can only work if it’s supported by a clear purpose, the right people, a well-defined process, and a program that rolls it out effectively. The combination of these elements will ensure that your insights platform isn’t just a dashboard—it becomes a powerful driver of change and improvement in your organization. Remember, a successful software engineering insights strategy isn’t just about the tool. It’s about building a culture of data-driven decision-making, fostering continuous improvement, and aligning all your teams toward achieving business outcomes. When you get that right, the value of engineering insights becomes clear. **_Want to build a tailored engineering insights strategy for your enterprise organization? Get expert recommendations at our free insights strategy workshop._** [**_Register here._**](/content/cc/engineering-insights-strategy-workshop/index.html) **_Andrew Gassen_** _has guided Fortune 500 companies and large government agencies through complex digital transformations. He specializes in embedding data-driven, experiment-led approaches within enterprise environments, helping organizations build a culture of continuous improvement and thrive in a rapidly evolving world._ ## Sample Use Case **Subject:** _PR Descriptions Boost Review Speed by 30%_ **March 31, 2025** **Experiment Lead:** _Mary O’Clary_ **Goal:** _We must pull a major capability from Q4 2024 into Q2 2025 to increase our revenue. We believe we can do this by improving productivity by 30%._ **Opportunity:** _We found lack of clear descriptions were a primary cause of churn & delay during the review cycle. How might we improve PR descriptions, with information reviewers need?_ **Problem:** _Help PR Reviewers more regularly understand the scope of PRs, so they don’t need to ask developers a bunch of questions._ **Solution:** _Issue simple guidelines for what we are looking for PR descriptions_ **Metric(s):** _PR Review Speed. We also monitored overall PR Cycle Time, assuming it would also improve for PRs closed within our experiment timeframe._ **Action:** _We ran this experiment over one 2 week sprint, with no substantial changes in complexity of work or composition of the team. We kept the timeframe tight to help eliminate additional variables._ **Result:** _We saw PR Review Speed increase by 30%_ **Next Step:** _Because of such a great result and low perceived risk, we will roll this out across Engineering and continue to monitor both PR Review Speed & PR Cycle Time._ **Key Learnings:** _Clear, consistent PR descriptions reduce reviewer friction without adding developer overhead, giving us confidence to expand this practice org-wide to help accelerate key Q2 2025 delivery._ ## How Make This Process Stick My recommendation is to appoint one “editor in chief” to issue these updates each week. They should CC the experiment lead on the communication to provide visibility. In the first 4-6 weeks, this editor may need to actively solicit reports and coach people on what to share. This is normal—you’re building a new behavior. During that time, it's critical that managers respond to these updates with kudos and support, and they may need to be prompted to do so in the first couple of weeks. If these updates become a regular ritual, within ~3 months, you’ll likely have more contributions than you can keep up with. That’s when the real cultural shift happens: **people start sharing without prompting, and process improvement becomes part of how your org operates**.