Are your metrics driving decisions, or starting conversations?
Software industry metrics frameworks are great at comparing you to vendor benchmarks. But try getting a straight answer if you ask what to do with the data. Skip the generic metrics and the FUD. Measure what you need to make decisions, and solve your operational pain points.
I'm Dr. Krishna Kumar
I help software companies design bespoke measurement systems that accurately model their operational processes. I work with product, engineering, sales, and operations teams to analyze specific processes and find opportunities for improvements, both within and across functions.
My practice is grounded in The Presence Calculus, a technique rooted in stochastic process theory. It produces deterministic, inspectable, context-specific models, and metrics that let you reason about cause and effect with confidence.
Metrics used in standard software industry methods—Lean/Agile/Kanban, VSM, ToC, DORA, DevEx—cannot claim that.
My methods are process-agnostic. They are a drop-in replacement for the measurement tier in all of these approaches, including loose adaptations, and even work with your own homegrown processes. With AI set to scramble all the traditional lenses by which we measure our systems, our first principles approaches are uniquely powerful.
Through The Polaris Advisor Program, I work directly with function leaders and teams to solve challenging measurement and analysis problems using bespoke models, and design systems to manage specific operational challenges.
You bring deep knowledge of your business; I bring expertise in measurement design and custom tooling. Together, we create decision systems your leaders and teams can trust.
Custom Measurement Models
I don't sell dashboards or metrics tools, though I've built plenty of them.
I design measurement systems specific to your operational flows—built from models that measure process dynamics, not statistical summaries and reports.
Your context determines the model and the metrics we develop, not a tool vendor's template.
Deterministic Measurement
My approach uses sample-path analysis—a technique rooted in calculus not statistics. It's backed by 50 years of operations research, so it's not new.
Unlike statistical methods, it produces deterministic measurements and transparent cause-effect explanations—leading to unambiguous decisions faster.
Skip the debates about what the data might mean and decide how to act on it.
Advisory-First Delivery
Sophisticated tools built over years of R&D enable the work. But you're buying advice and expertise on how to apply unfamiliar methods, not software.
My deliverables are insight, a fit-for-context measurement system, instrumentation guidance, and decision processes.
There is a learning curve to these techniques. I flatten it significantly, giving you actionable advice faster.
Why Work With Me
I Work in the Open
The underlying theory and tooling behind my practice are published openly and backed by proven mathematics. The Presence Calculus Project provides the mathematical foundation; my open-source tools let you pressure test the ideas on your own, if you choose. My goal is to help clients understand how these techniques expand and sharpen their decision making capabilities—and apply them with expert guidance in their context.
I Explain the Why
The Polaris Flow Dispatch explores my philosophy of measurement, modeling, and analysis of operational processes. Often counter to conventional wisdom in the software industry, but always backed by reasoning and mathematical proof. Rigorous, unorthodox thinking, shared publicly.
Your Expertise + Mine
I bring expertise in measurement design and tools. You bring deep knowledge of how your business operates. Together, we build measurement systems that explain why your processes behave as they do and what you need to do to improve them.