Ask HN: Is velocity a good metric to measure team performance?

2 points by duykhoa12t ↗ HN

4 comments

[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 31.8 ms ] thread
No. Agile does not work. Tasks will get delayed, need reviewing, etc, etc. A task is done when it's done. Deal with it.
I totally agree with you. We tried, but things aren't expected
(comment deleted)
Short answer is no.

Problem with the velocity is that we developers are really poor in estimates and the velocity is rarely accurate enough.

So what I would like to recommend is that you first check your definition of done and then start experimenting with velocity by following how many stories you get done per week. After 4 weeks calculate the average. Each week through out put should be fitted in 1 Standard deviation (Normal distribution). Make it a strict rule that only ready for prod is done done.

This contains a problem that the stories are not equal size but when we experimented with this we used shirt sizes (S, M, L) and made a rule that only S and M size stories (Small enough) where only allowed inside the sprint. Our S was max 2 days and M max 5 days. We got to a point where our through out put was 3 stories per week (Small team: 2 devs + a test expert).