Understand how and where to use this metric to aid planning, whether for Sprint or a Release
Speed in Scrum is a complementary practice. It is not described in the Scrum Guide, but is used and recognized by many in the community.
What is Speed?
Velocity is a measure of Product Backlog items delivered by Sprint. According to the Scrum.org glossary (https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-glossary ), Velocity is an optional indication of the amount of Product Backlog Items transformed into Increments, during a Sprint, by a Scrum Team.
Where to use this indicator?
Sprint Planning – This indicator is used by the development team, in Sprint Planning, to assist in the assembly of the Sprint Backlog. For example, if the development team historically knows how to deliver an average of 5 Product Backlog items per Sprint, then, in Sprint Planning, this team tends to pick something close to the 5 Product Backlog items.
Project Monitoring and Progress – The same information is used by the Product Owner to forecast the Product Backlog. In the same scenario above, knowing that the development team historically knows how to deliver an average of 5 Product Backlog items per Sprint, and looking at the Product Backlog, we can project when an item will be ready, or what the delivery forecast for the next Sprints is.< /p>
Can I predict the future?
It is worth noting that Speed is only used to aid planning, giving a empirical form (looking to the past to project the future), whether from a Sprint or a Release.
Speed should not be used as a success factor for a team. Success should always be based on value delivered, on customer satisfaction, on solving business problems. Deliverables are the most important part of a Scrum team, not its metrics.
Speed is not good or bad. It’s just an indicator, a fact.
How to Increase Speed?
How do I get inside Scrum, increase speed and help the team deliver more?
Level of Item Detail / Refinement: The more detail the Product Backlog items have, the less time it takes for the team to plan.
Priorization: If the items are prioritized, the Team Speed increases, as this team will have the most important items delivered first. A good Product Owner is able to FDP (slicing, discarding and prioritizing). If you reach the end of a release and essentials are missing, you probably haven’t prioritized development correctly. You must have been iterative but not iterative and incremental.
Technical debt: The more technical debt on the project, the more difficult it tends to work.
Team building: A team that doesn’t communicate, that doesn’t work together, that doesn’t live up to Scrum values, definitely has problems during development.
Purpose / clear vision / autonomy: A team that doesn’t know where it’s going, and only has a lot of tasks, tends to be less engaged, to give fewer ideas than one team that has a clear vision and autonomy to achieve that goal.
People Allocation: But when you put more people in, it tends to drop a little bit until it stabilizes again.
More hours: But it’s been proven that people tend to bug the system.
Continuous Improvement: Really Use Sprint Retrospective to make the team grow more.
Learning / Inspection and Adaptation: Have an Done increment at the end of a sprint, and together with stakeholders, inspect the increment, learn from it and adjust the plan.
Removal of impediments: Impediment is anything that hinders the team from delivering and that cannot be resolved by the team itself. This item is directly linked to the work of the Scrum Master.
People allocation and more allocated hours are unfortunately the only items many teams recognize as a way to speed up.
So, if you are a Scrum Master, can you speed up your team working on the items above?
But pay attention – it’s not the goal to increase speed by increasing speed. The goal is how we can generate more value.
Use the list below and fill in 1: I don’t even know where to start; 2: I work a little with my team; 3: I don’t think I have a problem with that, but I have to be always alert; 4: I currently master it.
Then just disappear and see how you are doing…
( ) Item detail level / refinement
( ) Prioritization
( ) Technical Debt
( ) Team building
( ) Purpose / clear vision / autonomy
( ) Continuous Improvement
( ) Learning / Inspection and Adaptation
( ) Removal of Impediments
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