Measuring Team Velocity

The velocity metric is often misunderstood, poorly measured, and misused by both management and development. Managers want to know how to increase this number. Developers worry they're being evaluated based on it. If velocity is not measured-and used-correctly, planning efforts quickly unravel, often sabatoging the team's efforts. Through simple analogies that make it more understandable, Rob Myers clarifies velocity-its definition and proper use within agile teams. Explore velocity as a realistic release planning tool as you learn about different ways to measure and report. For teams exploring Kanban, Rob shows how to convert velocity to lean's cycle time. He also describes approaches to bootstrap estimation using the Team Estimation Game and rapidly obtain relative estimates with Planning Poker®. Learn how to handle vacations, meetings, sick days, and surprises, and what to do if the answer to "Are we on schedule?" is "No." Take back ways to obtain consistent estimates, plan iterations, schedule releases, and track progress.