In Agile project management, velocity is a metric that measures the amount of work a team completes during a sprint (a set time period). It is typically calculated in terms of story points, which are units of measure used to estimate the effort required to complete a user story or task.
Key Points about Velocity:
- Measure of Productivity: Velocity shows how much work the team can handle in a sprint, helping to predict future performance.
- Historical Data: It is based on the team’s past performance and helps in planning future sprints by providing a realistic estimate of what can be accomplished.
- Sprint Planning: Teams use velocity to determine how many user stories or tasks they can commit to in the next sprint.
- Adaptability: Velocity can vary from sprint to sprint due to changes in team composition, work complexity, or unforeseen issues.
Example:
If a team completes 50 story points in Sprint 1, 45 in Sprint 2, and 55 in Sprint 3, the average velocity would be (50 + 45 + 55) / 3 = 50 story points per sprint. This average helps in planning the workload for upcoming sprints.
- Sprints: Sprint 1, Sprint 2, Sprint 3
- Story Points Completed: 50, 45, 55
The blue bars represent the number of story points completed in each sprint. The red dashed line indicates the average velocity, which is 50 story points per sprint.
This chart helps visualize how much work the team completed in each sprint and what their average productivity is.