Session Overview

"Escape Velocity" Velocity is one of the most common metrics used (and misused) on agile projects. Velocity is simply a measurement of speed in a given direction; the rate at which a team is delivering toward customer value. But Velocity alone is not a very useful metric. Is the team healthy? Is the team getting better? What is impeding their progress? Are they producing actual customer value? Will they get the work done by the deadline? Velocity fails to answer most of these questions and those it does answer, it answers poorly.

Doc Norton walks you through the Hawthorne Effect and Goodhart’s Law to explain why setting goals for velocity can actually hurt a project's chances. At the session, you can take a look at what can negatively impact velocity, ways to stabilize fluctuating velocity, and methods to improve velocity without the risks. Participate in the session and leave with a toolkit of additional metrics that, coupled with velocity, give a better view of the project's overall health.