3 ms·
> velocity metrics from your project management tools is like looking for your lost keys under the streetlamp because that's where the light is brightest That'
by pierrebai 4y ago
> velocity metrics from your project management tools is like looking for your lost keys under the streetlamp because that's where the light is brightest
That's not just a poor analogy but wrong. I can't even start to identify what aspect of velocity is the key and the street lamp or searching. Velocity is a tool to assess the amount of work you do per cycle and to help plan how much work to take in a given cycle.
It has nothing to do with losing key,, searching or only looking where there is light.
As usual, for any process, haters will just trade jabs and nod appreciatively and how much it all suck. Assessing how much work you team does every cycle is a useful metric, and people higher up like to have at least a small glimpse of how much work and and much time it will take to finish a feature.
One useless metric though, is snark.
- tanseydavid 4y agoOk, so you seem to appreciate the value of a VELOCITY metric. I am curious if you also track UNPLANNED WORK. The reason I ask is because in my experience a VELOCITY metric is in fact useless without also tracking PLANNED vs. UNPLANNED work. I am hoping you say "Yes, we track that". BTW I thought the metaphor was quite appropriate (and hardly snarky -- not sure why you read that into it).
- arealaccount 4y agoIf you dont count UNPLANNED WORK into your velocity, then it becomes a useful metric for planning. Its basically an inverse of disruption. Dev always wants to assign points to anything that gets pulled into a plan after commitments, or any scope creep, but if you can resist then your velocity becomes relatively consistent and predictable.