Search | Blog | Contact

Velocity Inflation Triggers Productivity Recession 80

Posted by Bob Koss Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:59:00 GMT

A team’s velocity is a measure of its productivity. A higher velocity means more work is being completed each iteration and a team that shows an increasing velocity from iteration to iteration is being more and more productive. This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

In Extreme Programming (XP), a team’s velocity is defined as the number of story points completed in an iteration. We can track the velocity for each iteration and calculate the average velocity over several iterations. If we know how many story points comprise an application, we can even project when an application can be released . Velocity is a very useful measure of a team’s capabilities. I have found it to be a much more reliable (make that infinitely more reliable) number to be used for project planning than asking developers for time estimates based on requirements.

Because velocity correlates to a team’s productivity, there is a tendency for managers to try to “goose” the velocity. The technical term for this is a stretch goal. Just like the coach of a sport’s team trying to get the team to play better, I can imagine project managers saying at a team meeting at an iteration boundary, “Come on team – you did 22 points last week, what do you say we try for 25 this week?” This same manager probably buys those motivation posters of eagles soaring and hangs them all around the team room.

The programming team takes pride in their achievements and they also like to see their velocity increasing. They will try to persuade the Customer to give them points for any bit of work they do. I can imagine a developer putting in a few minutes work to change the position of a GUI button on a screen and begging the Customer, “Can I get a point for that?”

XP teams can become obsessed with their velocity, but increasing velocity isn’t always a good thing. A team can inadvertently become so focused on getting points done that they sometimes forget the real goal – to deliver a quality product.

This became apparent to me recently when I visited a client to see how they were doing in their transition to XP. Their velocity had skyrocketed since I last saw them – and it was definitely not a good thing.

When Object Mentor does an XP transition with a client, we start with our XP Immersion course to get everybody on the same page about what our goals are. Ideally, we use two instructors, one to train the programmers in topics such as Test Driven Development and Refactoring, and the other coach teaches story writing, iteration planning, and release planning to the customer team. We then bring the two groups together for a day and have the customer team drive the programming team on a classroom exercise so everybody can experience how the process works. The instructors then stay and work with the team for a few iterations, coaching them on how to use what they learned in class on their own project.

Such was the case with the client I mentioned earlier. I was working with the programmers and the other coach had the customer team. When it came time to estimate stories, the other coach suggested using an open-ended scale. Where I like to use a scale of 1-5, this team was using a 1-infinity scale. That’s fine, it doesn’t really matter which scale you use, as long as whatever scale you choose is consistent. Stories were estimated according to their relative complexities, iterations were planned, and the programmers started cranking out code. After a few iterations the team’s velocity settled to a value of about 14 points. The team was doing fine and it was time for me to move on and let them do it alone.

When I returned to do a process checkup, their velocity had climbed to 48 points. Wow. This new process must really be resonating with the team. I purposely timed my visit to occur on an iteration boundary and we conducted a retrospection on how well the team was adhering the the XP practices. This turned out to be the bad news.

With a focus on getting more points done, it seemed that the team had abandoned many of the practices. Programmers weren’t pairing, weren’t writing unit tests, and weren’t refactoring their code. Customers were trying to stay ahead of the programmer’s ever increasing productivity abandoned writing automated acceptance tests in FitNesse and were now back to manual testing. I was heartbroken.

Beck teaches that one of the things teams have to do is to adapt the practices to the organization. Perhaps what they were doing was adapting. Adapting to the point that they weren’t even close to doing XP anymore, but adapting nonetheless. I wondered how that was working for them.

I observed the iteration planning meeting for the upcoming iteration and I noticed that all of the user stories were bug fixes from the previous iteration. No new functionality was being added to the application, the team was essentially spinning its wheels. So even though the velocity indicated a very productive team, the actual productivity was essentially zero. There must be a lesson here.

Velocity is what it is. You must take great care when encouraging a team to increase its velocity because you will always get whatever you’re trying to maximize. You have to be careful that you are maximizing the right thing. Want to maximize number of lines of code produced? Well you’re most likely going to get a lot of really crappy code. Want to maximize the number of unit tests that developers write? You’ll get a lot of them, but they’ll probably be worthless. Applying pressure to increase the velocity might make developers to subconsciously inflate their estimates or worse, abandon good development practices in order to get the numbers up.

Comments

Leave a response

  1. Avatar
    Harleton about 1 hour later:

    Great article, Bob. As a developer, I certainly know the temptation of not adhering to best practices in order to get a few extra points. Or the ego in the back of my head that wants to ‘beat’ last iteration’s score.

    In reality, a consistent velocity is better for the company/management as they can better schedule projects.

    In a stable group, if the velocity is changing, you are probably doing something wrong. Either estimating differently, doing stories that are too complex or not defined enough or changing your development practices.

    In theory, the only time your velocity should be changing (that I can think of) is if your staffing is increasing/decreasing.

    Thanks again Bob. Nice article.

  2. Avatar
    David Fauber about 3 hours later:

    I think the phenomenon you’re describing is commonly known in the US as “Playing to the measurement”.

  3. Avatar
    Chris about 19 hours later:
    @Harleton:
    In theory, the only time your velocity should be changing (that I can think of) is if your staffing is increasing/decreasing.

    How about an increase in team’s knowledge and skills?

  4. Avatar
    Harleton 1 day later:

    That’s probably true, Chris. But I’ve found that in my groups an increase in knowledge and skills are often offset by more aggressive estimates.

    A “build a web service” story might get a much lower story point estimate than it did a year ago now that the team has built many web services since that time.

    Of course, you could argue that our estimates shouldn’t be changing like that, but that is the reality of how my team ends up estimating. I suppose that is a whole different debate.

  5. Avatar
    Szczepan 25 days later:

    Interesting article.

    However, I have a feeling that abandoning practices like pairing, refactoring, unit testing may not be result of ‘playing to the measurement’. Perhaps the client staff just didn’t get it and pairing, unit testing wasn’t considered as useful… If they found it useful they would certainly used it to get more work/better quality work done.

    On the other hand getting story points for bugs is clearly a sign of reckless chase for bigger and bigger velocity figure.

  6. Avatar
    Ted M. Young 5 months later:

    Nice article, Bob—I love to hear about failures because we can learn much from them. I’m surprised that they were using bug fixes as stories: was this intentional, i.e., they didn’t see these as bugs but just new features? I always treated bugs (i.e., didn’t meet the original story card requirements) as part of the original story’s velocity.

    It also makes me wonder how they accepted the stories as being done? Were they done when the code was checked in to the source code control system? When all the tests pass? When QA did some manual testing? When QA’s automated tests passed? When the customer’s acceptance tests passed?

    It seems to me that taking credit for stories completed before anyone’s actually tried the feature is just asking for code to be stuffed in to the product and unless the team is really on top of things, is a disaster waiting to happen.

  7. Avatar
    http://www.apcoplus.com/ over 2 years later:

    You have to be careful that you are maximizing the right thing.

  8. Avatar
    annie2278 over 2 years later:

    You have to be careful that you are maximizing the right thing. people should be careful to do everything.

  9. Avatar
    disney restaurants over 2 years later:

    I also have found it to be a much more reliable number to be used for project planning than asking developers for time estimates based on requirements.

  10. Avatar
    PDF to epub Converter over 2 years later:

    oh ….ah ha

  11. Avatar
    sohbet over 3 years later:

    You can’t do this alone you need other people with like minded views or at least other people who are willing to listen. There’s nothing worse than someone who wants things to be better but does nothing about it.

  12. Avatar
    Cardigan over 3 years later:

    Stripe unlined upper garment is joker sheet is tasted, pants matchs skirt is harmonious. Tie-in pants, leisure, a handsome capable of taste, tie-in skirt, appear very college diversified, melting and lovely breath, have reduced the magical age. Stripe unlined upper garment skirt collocation of whole summer, let you are young.

  13. Avatar
    Sweatshirt over 3 years later:

    Bull-puncher knickers is always at leisure wear the limelight, cowboy comfortable and cool and refreshing knickers shading effect, it is become big period of change garments according to the spring love and melody. Loose t-shirts , vests even swimsuit can matching, become do not fall convention of change garments according to the collocation of the election.

  14. Avatar
    badmood over 3 years later:

    Exactly agree with your idea

  15. Avatar
    cheap vps over 3 years later:

    In Extreme Programming (XP), a team’s velocity is defined as the number of story points completed in an iteration. We can track the velocity for each iteration and calculate the average velocity over several iterations. If we know how many story points comprise an application, we can even project when an application can be released . Velocity is a very useful measure of a team’s capabilities. I have found it to be a much more reliable (make that infinitely more reliable) number to be used for project planning than asking developers for time estimates based on requirements.

    Because velocity correlates to a team’s productivity, there is a tendency for managers to try to “goose” the velocity. The technical term for this is a stretch goal. Just like the coach of a sport’s team trying to get the team to play better, I can imagine project managers saying at a team meeting at an iteration boundary, “Come on team – you did 22 points last week, what do you say we try for 25 this week?” This same manager probably buys those motivation posters of eagles soaring and hangs them all around the team room.cheap VPS

  16. Avatar
    jenniferthomos2 over 3 years later:

    How to convert AVI to iPad with best iPad Video Converter – AVI to iPad Best AVI to iPad Converter a professional iPad converter to convert avi files into iPad mp4 format, of course it can easily convert almost 100 kinds of videos to iPad for enjoying. The input format includes AVI, AMV, MKV, FLV, MTS, M2TS, MOD, H.264/AVC, RMVB, HD TS, HD MOV, WMV HD, etc. Best AVI to iPad Converter allows users to enjoy videos with the large and high-resolution screen freely with your iPad. There are many powerful editing functions such as effect, trim, crop, add watermark, merge and so on. RECOMMENDED: For Mac Users, you can try iPad Converter for Mac Version! FLV to iPad Converter DivX to iPad Converter

  17. Avatar
    best blu ray converter over 3 years later:

    Blu Ray Converter can easily convert blu ray dvd/common dvd/DVD IFO file/DVD folder/DVD ISO file to most common Video, HD Video, Flash Video, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, PSP/PS3, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, Zune, Xbox, Mobile Devices, Archos, Common Audio, Supported Portable Devices.

    Editing funcionts like trim and crop DVD/ Blu-Ray clips, customize profile list and different watermarks?

  18. Avatar
    video dvx over 3 years later:

    kalbim seninle ahhh

  19. Avatar
    Preserve Plant life over 3 years later:

    A good team is always an asset to the company. More its efficiency, more will be the productivity of the team. A company should try to retain its best by providing good working conditions and employee friendly attitude.

  20. Avatar
    fatmagülün suçu ne izle over 3 years later:

    Keep in mind that although we typically know what the effects of two or more drugs have the mechanism

  21. Avatar
    surgery games over 3 years later:

    You have to be careful that you are maximizing the right thing.

  22. Avatar
    iPod to iTunes Transfer over 3 years later:

    iPod to iTunes Transfer, transfer iPod to iTunes library, is an all-function transfer for iPod users that supports all versions of iPod and other iPhone devices. It can perform like a transfer, a converter, a ringmaker.

  23. Avatar
    Pandora over 3 years later:

    I built a castle in the swamp and it sunk. I built a second castle and it sunk too. I built a third castle and it burned down and then sunk.

  24. Avatar
    pandora over 3 years later:

    The best thing about acquiring on the internet is you are free to discover anything your presents, whereby a shop it can be difficult to type even so his or her supply to get the right thing. Mothers adore products which can be unforgettable. Make an effort to found your mum by using a gift which is customized, as a possible case in point a ring applying their title imprinted inside it. Rare metal bands make for great presents simply because they immortalize your current mom?¡¥s identify inside platinum. Any precious metal pendant and also a necklace produces a great presents to your mom, along with items which are most often unnoticed .

  25. Avatar
    michael van der ham over 3 years later:

    excellent post, thanks for sharing with us.

    michael van der ham

  26. Avatar
    High Protein Foods over 3 years later:

    Want to maximize the number of unit tests that developers write? You’ll get a lot of them, but they’ll probably be worthless. Applying pressure to increase the velocity might

  27. Avatar
    p90x schedule over 3 years later:

    Ooh, much improved. I like the style of the comments especially.

  28. Avatar
    cable ties over 3 years later:

    great improvement on the topic. keep it up!

  29. Avatar
    cable ties over 3 years later:

    thanks for sharing. love this post.

  30. Avatar
    killua over 3 years later:

    Welcome to PDF to ePub Converter

    The PDF to ePub converter is a perfect and professional software to help you convert PDF to ePub. Meanwhile the PDF to ePub Converter enables you to convert PDF to ePub and ePub to PDF. Many kinds of formats such as HTML, XML, TEXT, Gif, JPEG can be converted by this powerful PDF to ePub converter. And you can use this PDF to ePub Converter to parse PDF file(include all text, image) and rebuild it. Then you will get the perfect output ePub files.

    By the way, the another PDF to EPUB Converter,after conversion by it you can enjoy the eBooks with iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader, iRex Digital Reader 1000, PocketBook Reader and so on. Meanwhile, the converter suppports converting in batches and with the intuitive and clear interface, it is very easy even for the beginner. So you can have a try of this excellent PDF to EPUB converter. It will benefit you a lot!

  31. Avatar
    dswehfhh over 3 years later:

    We are the professional jacket manufacturer, jacket supplier, jacket factory, welcome you to custom jacket.

  32. Avatar
    lose 5 pounds over 3 years later:

    Thanks for your superb post, i enjoy to see this information.

  33. Avatar
    vienna over 3 years later:

    On the bracelet a soft spot for many women,all kinds of cuff bracelets worn on women.Bracelet from the ancient legend of the man and woman,faithful and put on a metal chain in the wrist,meaning the heart of the lock for each other,never betray.Gradually evolved into modern accessories for a woman. The initial use of modern cuff bracelets in the main form of fashion accessories,and mainly in gold and silver to create.Its style to the wave type,heart-shaped,multi-buckle type etc.Even with the necklaces, pendants, rings, earrings and so on with, in the female’s head,chest,hand,wrist,sparkling,beautiful. In recent years,more and more about something new and eclectic style.And these are precisely to different classes,different ages, different occupations,different personality preferences of women who display their great opportunity.Silver cuff bracelets is no longer synonymous with wealth and noble,bracelets can represent the youth, passion,classical,funky,original and even religious beliefs and so on.

  34. Avatar
    Thyroid over 3 years later:

    I’m quite surprised as well just how much inline variable I’ve been using. It’s indeed very hard to find the right level of generality.

  35. Avatar
    dory over 3 years later:

    Useful information will I follow your posts. Social Network

  36. Avatar
    http://www.pandora-uksale.com over 3 years later:

    Great sources for fashion news and fashion articles. It’s offered many details about the relevant information. I really like this post a lot and i am gonna recommend it to my pals. Brief and practical methods inside the post save your time and inside the searching process. It really is this kind of awesome source or technique that we can’t wait to use it. The post is totally incredible. Appreciate your whatever you posted and all you could present to us!

  37. Avatar
    Big pony over 3 years later:

    Thank you for this, very helpful.big pony from http://www.ralphlauren-poloshirts.co.uk .

  38. Avatar
    Seobaglyak over 3 years later:

    Thanks for your superb post…

  39. Avatar
    okey oyunu oyna over 3 years later:

    nice article i follow you

    internette görüntülü olarak okey oyunu oyna, gerçek kisilerle tanis, turnuva heyecanini yasa.

  40. Avatar
    discount pandora beads over 3 years later:

    You have a very nice and motivating posting style, it makes me read your articles with great interest.

  41. Avatar
    tiffany charm bracelet over 3 years later:

    Hi, I found your post really helpful. Thanks for posting such informative content. Keep posting.

  42. Avatar
    coach purses over 3 years later:

    Mr Coates coach purses is the longest U.S. market popular with one of the most successful leather brand. Mr Coates coach purses store represents the most admirable American fashion innovative style and traditional skills . Mr Coates coach bags have durable quality and exquisite technology, Conspicuous Coach Heels in the female consumers have good reputation. Welcome to our shop Elegant Coach Purses

  43. Avatar
    ford leveling kit over 3 years later:

    Great, I am very interested of your blogs Thanks :-)

  44. Avatar
    leveling kit ford over 3 years later:

    Great, I am very interested of your blogs Thanks :-)

  45. Avatar
    leveling kit f250 over 3 years later:

    Great, I am very interested of your blogs Thanks :-)

  46. Avatar
    leveling kit f250 over 3 years later:

    Great, I am very interested of your blogs Thanks :-)

  47. Avatar
    beats by dr dre headphones over 4 years later:

    Your essay is good except for the spelling.

  48. Avatar
    deadbeat millionaire review over 4 years later:

    Would you like to banckup iphone SMS to mac, macBook, macbookPro as .txt files? Now a software iphone SMS to Mac Backup can help you to realize it.

  49. Avatar
    chanel over 4 years later:

    great. like it. thanks for sharing. Chanel New Styler Bags 2011 Chanel Sammlung in Boutique

  50. Avatar
    does coach use real fur on their boots over 4 years later:

    Coach boots is very stylish, I want to have one,does coach use real fur on their boots?

  51. Avatar
    http://www.newhandbagssale.com/Coach-Boots/Coach-Boots-01_1.htm over 4 years later:

    Coach boots is very stylish, I want to have one,does coach use real fur on their boots?

  52. Avatar
    Pandora Black Leather Bracelet over 4 years later:

    Designer Pandora Black Leather Bracelet is always fashionable, but in 2011 it turned from just necessary accessory into a basement of women’s image.

  53. Avatar
    Cheap Christian-Louboutin-Peep-Toe over 4 years later:

    Analyzing with regards to a great product and service which comes at such high selling price irritates me at times. After all I can’t purchase plenty of those high-end products available.Cheap Christian-Louboutin-Peep-Toe

  54. Avatar
    ssara over 4 years later:

    Productivity is important but being accurate in work is as well very crucial. finance mba resources

  55. Avatar
    shanewatson404@gmail.com over 4 years later:

    I am glad Mechanical Engineering Job Description to see the great article in this Chief Executive Officer Job Description blog that to searching the amazing Desktop Support Job Description services in this blog. This is very much happy for providing the great technology and reading the nice articles Police Officer Job Description in this website

  56. Avatar
    abercrombie and fitch over 4 years later:

    Hi, I found your post really helpful. Thanks for posting such informative content. Keep posting.

  57. Avatar
    Ashley Bowling over 4 years later:

    Low pressure usually brings clouds, rain or storms, a warning for sailors.

  58. Avatar
    danaray over 4 years later:

    v

  59. Avatar
    www.replicapwatches.com over 4 years later:

    We truly appreciate your blog post. omega seamaster watches There are actually a lot of approaches we could put it to good use while having a minimum of effort on time and hard earned money. best quality watches Thank you really with regard to helping have the post give light to many issues we have experienced before now best replica rolex.

  60. Avatar
    christian louboutin over 4 years later:

    The professional design make you foot more comfortable. Even more tantalizing,this pattern make your legs look as long as you can,it will make you looked more attractive.Moveover,it has reasonable price.If you are a popular woman,do not miss it.

    Technical details of Christian Louboutin Velours Scrunch Suede Boots Coffee:

    Color: Coffee
Material: Suede
4(100mm) heel
Signature red sole x

    Fashion, delicate, luxurious Christian louboutins shoes on sale, one of its series is Christian Louboutin Tall Boots, is urbanism collocation. This Christian louboutins shoes design makes people new and refreshing. Red soles shoes is personality, your charm will be wonderful performance.

  61. Avatar
    christian louboutin over 4 years later:

    Low pressure usually brings clouds, rain or storms, a warning for sailors.

  62. Avatar
    iPad to Mac Transfer over 4 years later:

    Users are complain about the data lose on the tablet. why not backup to Mac before lose them? yeah! a regularly backup of the file can be a good idea!

  63. Avatar
    iPhone contacts backup over 4 years later:

    You can explain more about this topic. I think most of us would like to see what’t going on next. thx. guys.

  64. Avatar
    ugg ???? over 4 years later:

    ????? ? ugg ?????????????? ?????? ????1526??????????????????????1?????????????(??? ? ???8??????????2009?4???????????????????????8?8?(???)???????????????????? ?? ?????

  65. Avatar
    bodybuilding over 4 years later:

    Thank you for writing this informative article. You have made sense of this topic with your original and quality content. It’s smart, engaging and interesting. Articles like this are genuinely appreciated by people like me.

  66. Avatar
    cool tattoo over 4 years later:

    What can I say about this article that hasn’t already been said? I feel like you wrote this article just for me and from my vantage point. Thank you for writing what I couldn’t write.

  67. Avatar
    Prince2 over 4 years later:

    I just couldn’t leave your website before saying that I really enjoyed the quality information you offer to your visitors… Will be back often to check up on new stuff you post!

  68. Avatar
    iPad to Mac Transfer over 4 years later:

    It is exactly what I need. You are right. If we don’t pay we can’t get what we need. It is the say for programming. We need understand what exactly they mean. so, if you need to backup or export all stuff to PC for a safe copy. try it and do it now.

  69. Avatar
    lipozene over 4 years later:

    thanks for sharing. love this post.

  70. Avatar
    china crafts over 4 years later:

    You have to be careful that you are maximizing the right thing.

  71. Avatar
    monster beats outlet over 4 years later:

    Dr Dre Monster beats Tour In Ear Headphones with ControlTalk is high-definition in-ear headphones that let you will hear the sound that haven’t exist in nowadays digital music. monster beats dr dre include Monster ControlTalk for on-cable iPod/iPhone playback control, variable volume, monster dr dre headphones tracking forward/back, play and pause as well as a built-in high-grade mic for crystal clear hands-free calling.monster dr dre headphones

  72. Avatar
    youngbrown over 4 years later:

    Thanks for the information, I’ll visit the site again to get update information video games

  73. Avatar
    louboutin sales over 4 years later:

    Velocity Inflation Triggers Productivity Recession 72 hoo,good article!!I like the post!56

  74. Avatar
    bladeless fans over 4 years later:

    Velocity Inflation Triggers Productivity Recession 73 good post160

  75. Avatar
    Christian Louboutin greissimo pump over 4 years later:

    We live in a society that develops in a much faster pace Christian Louboutin Ron Ron than tens of years ago. Modern people undertake much Christian Louboutin jeweled platform slingback more burdens from work, life and some other aspects. Christian Louboutin rolando hidden platform pumps But fortunately, most of them do not let the busy commuting Christian Louboutin peep toe bury their passion. They seek for ways through which they can live a more diverting life.

  76. Avatar
    Injection mold over 5 years later:

    Intertech Machinery Inc. provides the most precise Plastic Injection Mold and Rubber Molds from Taiwan. With applying excellent unscrewing device in molds,

    Intertech is also very professional for making flip top Cap Molds in the world. Mold making is the core business of Intertech (Taiwan). With world level technology, Intertech enjoys a very good reputation for making Injection Mold and Plastic Molds for their worldwide customers.

  77. Avatar
    ????-??? over 5 years later:

    2012?????RayBan ? ??? ??×? RB5252- 5047?????RCPapr28????? ???? ?? ? ?? 13860? ??, 2012??????-?-c-57.html”>?? ??????? http://www.e-rayban.net/

  78. Avatar
    ????-??? over 5 years later:

    ?????RAY-BAN?????????? ? ??????????????? ??? ????-?-c-57.html”>ray ban ?? http://www.e-rayban.net/

  79. Avatar
    hermes birkin ostrich over 5 years later:

    Travel luggage is designed for professionals, sportsmen, men, women, kids and sometimes even animals?

  80. Avatar
    Injection Mold over 5 years later:

    With more than 20 years of experience, Intertech provides an extensive integrated operational ability from design to production of molds 100% made in Taiwan. Additional to our own mold making factory, we also cooperate with our team vendors to form a very strong working force in Taiwan.

    For the overseas market, we work very closely with local representatives in order to take care of the technical communication and after-sales service to our customers. We also participate in the EUROMOLD & FAKUMA exhibitions and meet our customers every year in Europe. By concentrating on mold “niche markets”, we play a very useful mold maker role from the Far East whenever customers want to develop their new projects. We provide services from A to Z to our customers on a very economic cost and effect basis.

Comments