Stage 2 · Lesson 5 of 8
Measuring before and after
starts with a : the number as it is today, recorded before you change anything. Examples: the test failure rate over the last 50 builds, minutes lost each week to a manual step, or how many times an woke someone each month.
After the fix, measure the same number again. Without the baseline, "it is much better now" is an opinion. With it, "flaky failures went from 18% to 1% of builds" is evidence your manager can repeat in a promotion discussion.
Measuring first also tells you whether the problem is as big as it feels. Sometimes it even changes which problem you pick.
Common trapstarting the fix before measuring, then having nothing to compare against.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- BookFreeSoftware Engineering at Google
Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright · Intermediate
The chapters on testing, CI and large-scale changes: fixing problems at team scale
- BookPaidThe Pragmatic Programmer
Hunt and Thomas · Intermediate · About $45
Automation, broken windows and orthogonality: the habits behind leverage