How would you measure the success of the programs you are responsible for at Facebook?

Remember to describe a method for tracking success at a team level. This may include activities such as holding reflection meetings, or one-on-ones to gauge morale. Successful product launches and delivery of business goals are important, but it can be equally as important to maintain a programming environment where team members feel supported and satisfied.

"There are four main aspects to measuring success for the programs I am responsible for. First, I measure how the work of the teams within my program performs against the defined goals of the initiative. I have used the objectives and key results model for measuring this aspect of the work in the past, but I am open to whatever model is a fit for the team and situation. I appreciate working with a distinct list of expected results that are directly measurable. There should be little room for ambiguity and the results should be written in a way that teams can easily align their work with the results they need to deliver. These objectives usually include measurements of delivery time, budget performance, revenue generation, operational efficiencies, and customer satisfaction.

Secondly, I work with the project managers, product managers, and technical leads within my program to develop a clear strategy to achieve our objectives. These activities include release planning, reviewing product launch activities, defining milestones, and reviewing budgets. During these sessions, we discuss the team success metrics that we can use on a regular basis to contribute to the measurement of our progress. We end with the creation of team-based objectives that align with the strategic plan.

During execution, I check in regularly with all of my teams to see how well we are performing. We review their progress against the team objectives and map their success back to the program objectives. We discuss any performance issues and develop strategies to get back on track. We also celebrate successes and discuss strategies to fully leverage things that are working better than expected.

Thirdly, I feel it is important to measure the success of a program by the satisfaction of the employees who contribute to it. The measurement methods for this can be a bit ambiguous, but I have used a mix of reflection meetings, one-on-ones, surveys, teambuilding events, and impromptu check-ins in the past. I like to make sure that everyone feels supported and challenged and that team-level conflicts are resolved appropriately. I work with the project managers and engineering leads to make sure they focus on this as well because it is a critical success factor in many cases.

Finally, I gather whatever metrics make sense to gauge customer satisfaction. In a Facebook setting, I would lean on usage statistics, support requests, issue resolution times, revenue generated, and whatever information I could gather within discussion boards online."