The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Velocity in Scrum

Velocity in Scrum is defined as the output of a team measured in story points during a sprint. It’s also the most abused metric in Scrum, bar none. I’ll discuss the right use of Velocity and the many ways it can be abused. Unfortunately, most organizations never stop to think about the ‘why’ of Velocity. This can lead to unhealthy, stressed, and unpredictable teams.

Immediately, the term ‘velocity’ is a misnomer. If we ignore Scrum for a minute and look at the actual definition, we see where a part of the confusion surrounding the term…