Back to Forum

Team velocity

Last post 08:25 pm May 14, 2018 by Olivier Ledru
3 replies
SRIKANTH RANGA ROUTHU
12:55 am May 14, 2018

Hi All,

I am a new scrum master with a team of 7 (4 Dev’s, 2 testers, 1 BA) and the team velocity is set to 21 SP based on last 3 months delivery. I am planning for future sprints and bit hesitant to set the team velocity as 21 as there are 2 public holiday’s for sprint X and 2 resources unavailable for 3 days (Planned leave) for sprint X+1.

Is it recommended to calculate the velocity as?

  1. sprint X as 17 (16.8) SP
  2. sprint X + 1 as 20 (19.8) SP

Based on

21sp/7 resources = 3 SP per sprint/per resource

3 SP/10 (sprint days) =0.3 SP per day/per resource

Ian Mitchell
04:02 pm May 14, 2018

As a Scrum Master, why are you trying to "set" a team's velocity? Isn't it up to the Development Team to forecast how much work they think they can take on in a given Sprint, and for the Product Owner to make any projections regarding future outcomes?

Timothy Baffa
05:11 pm May 14, 2018

Velocity is a reflective metric.   The PO and the Development Team can use that number as a guide in forecasting future work.

What you are considering with time off and holidays is a potential capacity impact to the team, which is something else that can be measured and considered by the PO and Dev Team during Sprint Planning.

I would not waste time trying to re-calculate a projected velocity rate based on availability.   Simply ask the team to use their current velocity rate, consider their availability in relation to past sprints, and come to a consensus on what they can achieve over the next sprint.

Olivier Ledru
08:25 pm May 14, 2018

"I am planning for future sprints".

Are you a Scrum Master or a Project Manager ?

By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.