You’re exploring the team’s dashboard with a sense of pride, noticing the vibrant green of Jira charts, the smooth progress of burndown charts, and the record-breaking number of closed tickets. Everything seems to be running wonderfully. Yet, despite these positive signs, there’s a little voice in your mind that makes you pause. You sense that although the numbers look great, the product isn’t moving as swiftly as it appears, and somehow, the quality of the work feels a bit off.
What you may be experiencing is a common, and often subtle, problem in software development: a team that has learned to game the system. This isn’t about blaming engineers. It’s about understanding human nature and a concept known as “Goodhart’s Law,” which states: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Your team isn’t trying to deceive you; they are simply optimizing for what you’ve told them is important. If the number of closed tickets is the primary measure of success, they will close as many tickets as possible.
Metrics don’t equal management
There are a few key ways this problem manifests. One common tactic is changing the ticket type, for instance, reclassifying bugs as “improvements” to keep the bug count low. Another is the pressure to close thousands of tickets in a short period without anyone asking why there were so many tickets in the first place. The problem here isn’t Jira itself – it’s a powerful tool when used correctly – but the way it is often deployed.
Jira is not a substitute for management. When it becomes the sole source of truth for a team’s performance, you’re not managing outcomes; you’re managing numbers. This inevitably turns your development process into a feature factory. Your engineers are just cogs in a machine, measured by their output of widgets (i.e., tickets), not by the value they are creating. This leads to a demoralized team, a drop in quality, and a product that falls short of its potential.
Shifting focus from output to outcomes
So, what can you do as a leader to break this cycle and create a more honest and productive environment?
First, re-evaluate your metrics. If you are still relying on vanity metrics like “number of tickets closed” or “story points per sprint” as your primary measure of success, it’s time for a change. These metrics can be useful for internal tracking and identifying bottlenecks, but they should never be the basis for performance reviews or team compensation. Instead, focus on metrics that are tied directly to business value. For example, what is the customer satisfaction score for a new feature? Has a recent performance improvement led to a measurable increase in user engagement? These are the metrics that matter.
Next, prioritize context and communication over numbers. Instead of simply looking at a dashboard, have conversations with your team. Ask them what they’re working on and why. What challenges are they facing? What customer problem are they trying to solve? By creating a culture where open communication is valued more than a green chart, you empower your engineers to be problem-solvers, not just ticket closers.
Finally, give your team a sense of ownership. When engineers feel a direct connection to the product’s success, they are less likely to engage in behavior that undermines its quality, even if it makes the metrics look good. Encourage them to participate in customer feedback sessions, bug bash events, and product strategy meetings. When your team is accountable for the outcome of their work, not just the output, you’ll find that the metrics on your dashboard start to become a more honest and accurate reflection of reality.
