Agile velocity is a metric that measures the amount of work completed by a team during a sprint. It’s a useful tool for teams to understand how much work they can complete within a given time frame, but relying solely on this metric can be dangerous. The main purpose of this blog post is to discuss the flaws of agile velocity and how they can mask real problems in your development process. By knowing this info, you will be able to gain a competitive edge. Let’s get started!
It focuses on Quantity Over Quality
Agile velocity focuses solely on the amount of work completed, rather than the quality of that work. This can lead to a focus on completing tasks quickly, rather than taking the time to ensure that they are done well. This can result in poor-quality work and technical debt that will need to be addressed later, ultimately slowing down the development process.
It Can Be Misleading
Agile velocity can be misleading because it doesn’t take into account the complexity of tasks. Some tasks may be simple and easy to complete, while others may be more complex and time-consuming. If the team is completing a lot of simple tasks, the velocity may be high, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the team is working efficiently.
It Doesn’t Account for External Factors
Agile velocity doesn’t account for external factors that may affect the development process. For example, a team may be working on a project with a lot of dependencies on other teams or external vendors. Delays in these dependencies can slow down the team’s progress, but this won’t be reflected in the velocity metric.
It Can Create Unhealthy Competition
Agile velocity can create unhealthy competition among team members. If the focus is solely on completing tasks quickly, team members may start competing with each other to see who can complete the most tasks. This can lead to a lack of collaboration and a negative team dynamic.
It’s important to remember that agile velocity is a useful metric for teams to understand how much work they can accomplish within a specified period of time. Focusing solely on agile velocity can lead to a lack of focus on quality, be misleading, not account for external factors, create unhealthy competition, and mask real issues in the development process. It’s important for teams to use agile velocity in conjunction with other metrics and to ensure that the focus remains on delivering high-quality work, rather than simply completing tasks quickly.
