Percentage of Backlog Items with Impact Block
environenvironmental
governance
systemic
This metric shows the percentage of backlog items that contain a fully completed Impact Block. By making the intended ecological, economic, and social effects of each item explicit, it strengthens transparency and supports value‑based prioritization throughout the Green Agile workflow. A high coverage ensures that both direct and indirect sustainability impacts are identified early, enabling more informed decisions during planning, refinement, and delivery.
Each Impact Block specifies:
- the effect type (direct or indirect)
- the sustainability dimensions involved (ecological, economic, and/or social)
- the selected metric, including its baseline and target
- the verification method that will be used to measure and validate the outcome
A high coverage rate indicates that sustainability considerations are systematically incorporated into backlog refinement and product decision‑making. As a guideline, teams should aim for at least 90% Impact Block coverage to ensure meaningful transparency and consistency across items.
- Category: Transparency & Prioritization
- Measurement Frequency: per iteration
- Responsible Role: Product Lead (primary), Engineering Team (supporting verification & feasibility), Green Agile Coach (coaching & quality enablement)
Impact
This metric ensures that every backlog item clearly states its intended sustainable effect, making the impact of upcoming work visible and discussable. By requiring measurable targets rather than assumptions, it enables teams to prioritize based on real, evidence-supported value. The resulting transparency creates a consistent and comparable basis for planning, refinement, and trade-off decisions. In doing so, the metric embeds sustainability thinking directly into the product development flow and strengthens impact-oriented decision-making across the team.
Calculation
\[\frac{\text{Items with Impact Block}}{\text{All items in scope}} \times 100\]The metric is calculated by dividing the number of backlog items that contain a fully completed Impact Block by the total number of items considered in the current iteration or scope. The result is then multiplied by 100 to express the value as a percentage. A higher percentage reflects stronger integration of sustainability criteria into backlog refinement and planning.
Example
To illustrate this metric, consider a backlog containing 15 items for an iteration.
Among these items is a user story focused on improving accessibility by introducing a High‑Contrast Mode for users with visual impairments. This story includes a complete Impact Block, making its sustainable and inclusive effect transparent.
Example Impact Block — “High‑Contrast Mode for Accessibility”
- Effect Type: indirect
- Sustainability Dimensions: social, ecological
- Selected Metric (Baseline → Target):
- WCAG Contrast Compliance: 65% → ≥ 95% of UI elements meeting contrast ratio
- Verification Method:
- Automated accessibility audits (AXE, Lighthouse)
- Manual UI contrast review
- Attached before/after screenshots demonstrating improved readability
If 12 out of 15 backlog items include such a complete Impact Block, the metric is calculated as:
\[\frac{12}{15} \times 100 = 80\%\]This result shows that 80% of the backlog provides clear visibility into sustainability and accessibility considerations. A strong share of such items helps ensure that inclusive design and user‑centric sustainability goals are consistently integrated into planning and refinement.