The document discusses how velocity, a measure of how much work a team completes in a given period of time, should not be the primary goal in agile development. While velocity can provide useful information, it is a lagging indicator of a complex system and focusing only on velocity can lead teams to optimize for the metric rather than quality or productivity. The document recommends measuring many factors beyond just velocity, such as quality, hours worked, and team well-being, and using metrics to help teams rather than judge them.

1. Velocity Is NOT
the Goal
Michael “Doc” Norton :: Groupon :: @DocOnDev
Agile Metrics

2. Velocity Is NOT
the Goal

3. Velocity

4. Velocity

5. What’s Velocity?

6. Work Units / Time

7. Lagging Indicator

8. Measure of a Complex System

9. Lagging Indicator
for a Complex System

10. A Tale of Two
Velocities

11. A
10, 11, 9 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Disclaimer

12. A
10, 11, 9 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10

13. A
10, 11, 9 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10

14. A
10, 11, 9 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 0.7
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 3.1

15. A
10, 11, 9 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 0.7
Next: 9.3-10.7
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 3.1
Next: 6.9-13.1

16. The Need for Speed

18. The Hawthorn Effect

19. That which is measured,
will improve

20. That which is measured,
will improve
... at a cost

21. Goodhart’s Law

22. When a measure becomes a
target, it ceases to be a
good measure

23. Perverse Incentives

24. ... an unintended result,
contrary to interests of the
incentive makers

25. Dr. Deming
“What matters is not
setting quantitative
goals but fixing the
method by which
those goals are
attained”

26. What causes variable
Velocity?

27. Time Poorly Spent

28. Dependency on Other Teams

29. Poor Story Composition

30. Too Much Work In Progress

31. Scatter
Diagrams

32. 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
0 2 4 6 8
Scatter Diagrams
Auto Prices by Year

33. 0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 25 50 75 100
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Complexity

34. 0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Value

35. 0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 22.5 45 67.5 90
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Coverage

36. “Friedman’s Thermostat”

37. Correlation is not causation

38. Correlation is not causation
but it sure is a hint

39. Cumulative
Flow Diagrams

40. Backlog

41. Cumulative Flow Diagram

43. 0
5
10
15
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Velocity Chart

44. Same
Different Perspective
Team
&
Data

45. CFD
0
25
50
75
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Deployed Ready for Approval In Testing In Progress Ready To Start

46. Measure
Many Things

47. Measure Many Things
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Velocity

48. Measure Many Things
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0
5
10
15
20
Velocity Quality

49. Measure Many Things
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
Velocity Quality Avg. Hours

50. Measure Many Things
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
Velocity Quality Avg. Hours Team Joy

51. Real World
Examples

52. Velocity w/Std. Deviation

53. Burn w/Std. Deviation

54. Cumulative Flow

55. Team Joy

56. Department Joy

57. One Last
Thing

58. Metrics
are not for
Managers

59. Metrics
are for
Teams

60. Velocity Is
NOT
the Goal
Michael “Doc” Norton
Groupon Director of Engineering
doc@groupon.com
@DocOnDev
http://www.docondev.com/
Thank You!