Measuring Success: EOS Metrics for Technology Organizations

This is Part 5 of our Building with EOS series. Check out Part 1 for the fundamentals of EOS, Part 2 for core components, Part 3 for tech implementation, and Part 4 for enhancing product development.

“What gets measured gets managed,” they say. But in tech companies, figuring out exactly what to measure can feel like trying to count clouds. Should you track lines of code? User satisfaction? System uptime? Let’s cut through the confusion and focus on what actually drives results.

The Balanced Scorecard Approach

Technology organizations face a unique challenge: they need to measure both business outcomes and technical excellence. The secret to success is combining these in a balanced scorecard that tells the complete story:

Business Metrics:

• Customer acquisition and retention numbers
• Revenue growth and profitability
• Market share and competitive positioning

Technical Metrics:

• System performance and reliability
• Development velocity and quality
• Security and compliance status

Without this balance, you risk optimizing for the wrong things. Technical perfection means nothing without business success, and business growth built on shaky technical foundations will eventually collapse.

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators

The most powerful scorecard combines both types of metrics:

Lagging Indicators tell you what has already happened:

• Monthly recurring revenue
• Customer churn rate
• System uptime percentage

Leading Indicators help predict future outcomes:

• Feature adoption rate in first 30 days
• Support ticket trends
• Technical debt accumulation rate

The magic happens when you connect these indicators. For example, declining feature adoption (leading) often predicts future churn (lagging) – giving you time to intervene before revenue takes a hit.

Your Action Plan: The 5-5-5 Framework

Here’s your actionable framework for measuring success: the 5-5-5 approach.

1. Choose 5 Business Metrics:

   • Revenue growth
   • Customer retention
   • Acquisition cost
   • Lifetime value
   • Market share

2. Select 5 Technical Metrics:

   • System availability
   • Response time
   • Deployment frequency
   • Change failure rate
   • Technical debt ratio

3. Identify 5 Leading Indicators:

   • Feature adoption trends
   • Support ticket patterns
   • Team velocity changes
   • Infrastructure utilization trends
   • Security vulnerability discovery rate

Review these metrics weekly with your leadership team, monthly with departments, and quarterly with the entire company. For each metric, establish:

• Clear definition
• Current baseline
• Realistic target
• Accountable owner
• Action plan for improvement

Remember: The goal isn’t just to collect data, but to drive better decisions. If a metric doesn’t trigger meaningful action, replace it with one that does.