tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post1222060735181884759..comments2023-10-22T06:10:35.936-04:00Comments on Scrum Log Jeff Sutherland: Velocity: Why don't people know how much Scrum teams can get done?Jeff Sutherlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07761053439034726679noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post-54715808076524821302009-07-03T15:16:40.202-04:002009-07-03T15:16:40.202-04:00When scope and release date are fixed, velocity is...When scope and release date are fixed, velocity is essential. Two recent projects come to mind, one in the U.S. (most important project in a 50B company) and Sweden (most important project in a smaller company). In the first case, projected date with waterfall plan was one year late. Actually delivery was on time. Second project projected delivery date was one year late. Incremental delivery with more than 80% of business value only two months late and customer happy.<br /><br />In the first case, my Scrum consulting team guaranteed delivery earlier than plan but on time only if management removed impediments. The "Project Leader" team selected by the CEO was an executive VP and four VPs of business units. The executive VP said "No problem, Jeff. I used to work at Toyota!" At that moment I knew the project would be a success.<br /><br />After three sprints we had velocity data that projected a delivery date almost six months late. The velocity of the teams would have to double to meet the date. We gave the executive VP a list of the 12 worst impediments in the company and told him to remove them. In four days, they were gone, showing that companies absolutely do not need to live for more than one week with impediments if they have someone from Toyota in a leadership position. They only keep their impediments because they want to hold onto them.<br /><br />Doubling velocity is easy but only if you know what your velocity is and what impediments need to be removed. We delivered exactly on time and the effect on the company stock price made the ROI on this project many thousands of percent, so big it was incalculable.Jeff Sutherlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07761053439034726679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post-473890388462105642009-07-02T22:09:55.046-04:002009-07-02T22:09:55.046-04:00When management is unwilling to get the point abou...When management is unwilling to get the point about agile, velocity is worthless. When scope and release date is fixed, velocity is worthless. When it becomes a instrument of pressure and humiliation, velocity is worthless, and so on.<br /><br />Most corporations would buy agile at first because they think projects will get fasters, yes, but that their precious fixed scope and time will be maintained. When things start to get to the wrong direction, they blame Scrum (or whatever), but they didn't manage to change their mindset.<br /><br />Adapting a phrase by Ken Schwaber: "The hardest part wil take years, the rest will demand continuous effort for the rest of your life"<br /><br />From Ford Co., "Culture eats strategy for breakfast every day".Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06396111272519490995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post-36739700567710825172009-06-30T11:45:03.491-04:002009-06-30T11:45:03.491-04:00Are you confusing Velocity with Acceleration in th...Are you confusing Velocity with Acceleration in this article? If velocity is increasing then acceleration is NOT zero, not steady velocity. Acceleration is very exciting but is not sustainable.<br /><br />I find your generalization of 5 X Velocity of a waterfall team very interesting. Could you talk more about this remarkable stat, and the background.<br /><br />As a CSP I would be hard pressed to claim any of the teams I've been a part of attaining 5X, but I've never done any study comparing waterfall team to scrum team. I do know which team I chose to work upon!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12435527405159930692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post-4592419728655106232009-06-30T09:01:24.531-04:002009-06-30T09:01:24.531-04:00Hi Jeff,
Argument/excuse I have heard is that vel...Hi Jeff,<br /><br />Argument/excuse I have heard is that velocity can only be expressed when resources are fixed (amount of people on team/project, same persons, same spans of time etc). Because of this they question the usefulness and whether or not the bookkeeping is worth their time. <br /><br />I really like the 'yesterday's weather' concept though, perfect prediction is not possible anyhow. It think it's a useful planning utility.Tunganohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13565034926284419927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3491762.post-89303384900024544922009-06-28T17:29:10.063-04:002009-06-28T17:29:10.063-04:00Jeff,
I would say the reason most teams do not kno...Jeff,<br />I would say the reason most teams do not know their velocity is because they do not understand relative estimation. They see this as an extra step (and maybe question the worth the effort?) when they still have to do traditional estimation for sprints. At least that has been my experience in coaching teams.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.syedrayhan.com" rel="nofollow">Syed Rayhan</a>Syedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00555014429818429040noreply@blogger.com