Sizing Up Success: T-Shirt Sizes are a Simple Approach to Measure Your Team Productivity

How do you feel about the word "productivity"? It can feel like a corporate buzzword, often discussed but rarely tangibly measured. Many teams operate without a clear understanding of their output, leading to a sense of being busy without necessarily being effective.

At Hive17 we are enabling leadership teams to become highly effective. And, understanding your productivity is one way to measure if you are achieving good results. The big question: how do you even begin to measure something that feels so… abstract?

​Enter the humble T-shirt Size Method. While it might sound unconventional, this simple agile method can offer a surprisingly insightful way for teams to track their progress and boost their effectiveness. Let's avoid complex metrics and endless spreadsheets. We're talking about a straightforward approach: assigning a size – Small (S), Medium (M), or Large (L) – to the tasks your team completes within a defined period (say, a fortnight or a sprint).

The beauty of this method lies in its simplicity. At the end of the period, you simply count up the number of S, M, and L tasks accomplished. Keep a record of these counts over time, and a trend will begin to emerge. Are you consistently completing more tasks each period? Is the ratio of task sizes shifting? This internal comparison provides a clear, visual representation of your team's output and how it evolves.

Crucially, this isn't about comparing your team to others or chasing external benchmarks. This is about your team's journey. The focus is the team's effectiveness, allowing you to identify patterns, reflect on what's driving increased output, and address any roadblocks hindering your progress. Did a new process streamline your workflow, leading to more completed tasks? Did external dependencies slow things down?

This simple act of measurement strengthens a sense of achievement as the team witnesses its own improvements. And it allows the team members to get closer, work towards a common goal and create a better sense of belonging. It provides a tangible way to see the impact of changes and encourages a culture of continuous improvement. By focusing on internal progress, you enable your team to take ownership of their effectiveness and work collaboratively to enhance it.

So, ditch the daunting feeling that measuring productivity is an impossible task. Embrace the simplicity of t-shirt sizing. It’s a practical, team-centric approach that can illuminate your progress and pave the way for greater effectiveness, one sized task at a time.