Ways to Measure The Agile Velocity Of Your Teams

Velocity is a simple way to measure the rate at which Scrum teams deliver business value. What project managers must keep in mind about Agile Velocity will be discussed here. Before, we move further; let’s understand what Velocity is?

Agile Velocity:

In short and simple terms, Agile Velocity can be considered as the amount of work your team does in a particular period of time. This can be measured in person hours, number of tasks completed, points collected, or any other units of measurement that can be used for work estimation.

Teams work constantly on the tasks that are on their plate. Velocity is measured as per the number of tasks done per day. The average of these daily velocities over the course of week can be used to estimate the work, a team can do in the long run.

It is equally useful in Scrum. All digital projects work towards a definite schedule. Velocity in Scrum is referred to as total of person hours completed. Knowing velocity, team members can calculate the amount of hours required to complete a project.

The time calculated to complete a project in this manner is mostly accurate.

How is Agile Velocity beneficial?

Teams using Agile usually focus on two levels of completion: either incomplete or complete i.e 0% done or 100% done.  But, sometimes, the task is only 70 - 80% complete. Hence, it is not considered in velocity.

You can plan the team’s velocity at their one and half of team’s total available time. Measuring the Agile Velocity can aid into effective visibility of project progress and status. It is believed that this will stabilize the project life in case the team planning or amount of hours taken to complete the project varies. It makes project planning easy.

Those new to Agile Software Development can select the initial velocity using available information. As days pass by, they will know how velocity can be measured and adjusted.

Velocity can simplify and accelerate the entire project planning and estimation, status tracking and reporting process.

How to track Agile Velocity?

Velocity charts are used to track the Agile Velocity. These are used by most of the project management platforms. These charts assist in visualizing the amount of value delivered. It also enables you to predict the amount of work done by the team in different phases.

So, does this mean Maximum Velocity = Maximum Productivity? Well, let’s check the validity of this statement:

Does Maximum Velocity = Maximum Productivity?

Maximizing Velocity may sometimes mean minimizing productivity. Forcefully trying to increase velocity can lead to less productivity. The aim is to have accurate Agile Velocity not maximum velocity.

There are various tools used to measure the velocity accuracy. These are also used to have visibility across all of your teams in one place. You can reuse the velocity data to measure the health of your product.

In a nutshell:

To know more about Agile Velocity, You can get in touch with us at Lean Agile Training. Knowing it properly will help you achieve more. Master Scrum and Agile and bring your company to the next level.