How Measuring Values Transforms Software Delivery Effectiveness
Organisations frequently grapple with a fundamental disconnect: they have well-defined company values displayed prominently on office walls, and they have robust KPIs measuring business performance, yet these two critical elements operate in separate spheres.
The result? Teams that deliver functionality but lack cohesion, superstars who achieve individual success while undermining team dynamics, and organisations that struggle to understand why their delivery effectiveness doesn’t translate into sustainable competitive advantage.
We’ve discovered, however, that the bridge between values and effectiveness isn’t just about alignment – it’s about making values measurable and actionable within the software delivery process itself.
Most technology companies can articulate their values clearly. Less can demonstrate how these values have a direct impact on the effectiveness of their delivery. The challenge becomes acute in retail technology, where the pace of change means that you cannot afford to fall behind. Missing the next delivery opportunity often means losing market position entirely.
This creates a dangerous temptation to prioritise speed over substance, and delivery over values.
Extensive experience in leading multiple engineering, delivery, support, and operational teams comprising over 200 professionals has shown that this trade-off is a false choice. The most effective delivery teams are those that operate within a clear values framework – but only when those values are defined, measured and reinforced through systematic processes.
We’ve developed an approach that links our three core values – accountability, pride and harmony – directly to measurable delivery outcomes. This isn’t about creating another layer of bureaucracy; it’s about ensuring that every team member understands how their daily actions embody organisational principles while driving business results.
Pride translates into quality metrics: we measure the percentage of failures detected during user acceptance testing for each module release. Maintaining agreed-upon failure rates for our most demanding retail clients. This metric directly reflects whether teams take genuine pride in their work, following our software development life-cycle processes thoroughly rather than rushing to completion.
Accountability becomes timing execution – using our project management tools, we track individual and team commitments against delivery dates. Every task commitment is visible to the team through a simple red-amber-green reporting system. When someone commits to completing work by a specific date, that commitment is tracked and measured. This transparency creates natural accountability within teams while providing clear data on delivery reliability.
Harmony shows up in team health and engagement. While more subjective than the other metrics, harmony can be measured through engagement surveys, team communication patterns and – critically – staff retention rates. Teams operating in true harmony demonstrate higher retention, better communication and more effective collaboration.
None of these measurements is possible without a robust underlying process. Our software development lifecycle (SDLC) serves as the foundation that enables values-based measurement. The process creates multiple checkpoints where quality can be verified, commitments can be tracked, and team collaboration can be facilitated.
However, process alone isn’t sufficient. When you align process adherence with values measurement, you create a framework where doing the right thing for the business also means living the company values. This alignment eliminates the tension between speed and quality, between individual achievement and team success.
After recently implementing this approach with our newer delivery teams, several patterns have emerged.
First, transparency drives improvement – when commitment tracking is visible to the entire team, individual accountability naturally increases. Team members become more thoughtful about their commitments and more proactive about communicating potential delays.
Second, measuring values provides objective criteria for performance discussions. Rather than subjective assessments about whether someone demonstrates accountability, we can point to specific data about commitment adherence, quality metrics and team contribution.
Third, this approach creates a common language across the organisation. From executive level to junior developers, everyone understands how their work contributes to both business objectives and organisational values.
For retail technology partners, this alignment creates a demonstrable competitive advantage. Clients can see evidence of our values in action through our delivery metrics. When we commit to timelines, our accountability tracking provides confidence. When we discuss quality standards, our pride metrics offer tangible proof. More importantly, this approach enables scalable growth.
The next phase involves extending this framework to our longer-established teams – those with 10 years of operational history who may have developed their own informal processes. This presents a different challenge: adapting established workflows to incorporate systematic values measurement without disrupting proven delivery capabilities.
The ultimate goal isn’t just better delivery metrics or stronger values adherence – it’s creating an organisational culture where effectiveness and values are indistinguishable, where the best way to achieve business objectives is automatically the way that best embodies company principles.
In an industry where technology capabilities can be replicated, this integration of values and effectiveness becomes a sustainable differentiator – one that benefits clients, partners and team members alike.
