Scrum Methodology

Value Versus Velocity

Posted by admin under Agile and Scrum, Scrum Basics, Scrum Discussion

Over at InfoQ, Vikas Hazrati points out the common misconception that a team’s velocity is directly linked to the value it yields for the organization. It’s a fairly understandable mistake: If a team accomplishes more in a given sprint, then surely it’s making a larger contribution to the organization’s success, right? Well, not necessarily… A team might set records for the number of story points it completes, but that doesn’t actually mean it’ll add up to “value” for the organization. For instance, what if the product it completes sits on the shelf and is never shipped because evolving market conditions render it irrelevant? What if it is shipped, but no one buys it? It’s easy to see that, once these aspects are considered, there’s really no connection between velocity and value.

Determining what agile-specific metric is best for quantifying the actual value generated through the team’s work has been a point of ongoing frustration for many managers. The best way I’ve seen this issue dealt with is in the ScrumWorks Pro tool, which employs several metrics—Business Value and Earned Business Value—to give organizations a way to track the actual business value being created in a product.

How does your organization track this? I’d be curious to hear your strategies for this in the comments section. Thanks!