In this section we are going to discuss about Real Life Issues related to Scrum Team Velocity. Velocity as a concept is not discussed explicitly in Scrum Guide. However, Velocity indeed is a commonly used development practice
The biggest challenge regarding velocity is often inconsistent or reducing velocity: If your teams are seeing a downwards trend in velocity or if the Velocity is inconsistent, some factors to consider could be
1. Inconsistent Workload and Scope Creep:
- Over ambitious Sprint Goals: Setting unrealistic or overly optimistic Sprint Goals can lead decreased productivity. In addition, Product owners often pressurize the Developers to accept more work in their zeal to deliver value. As a result, the Developers are not able to plan well.
- Scope Creep: Often the Product Owners ask the Developers to pitch in to unplanned work outside the sprint. Sometimes, they ask the Developers to accept new stories not planned in the Sprint. In these cases, unplanned work will derail sprint plans and impact velocity.
- A Product Backlog which not designed well: Sometimes, the Product Backlog items are not properly prioritized, or the Items selected in the Sprint are not broken down sufficiently. This makes it difficult for Developers to predict how much work to pull in the Sprint.
2. External Factors and Impediments:
- Technical Debt: Accumulated technical debt can make the system unpredictable. This causes a slowdown in the development work. As a result, we see reduced velocity.
- Organizational Impediments: Bureaucracy, lack of resources, or inflexible processes can create bottlenecks. These bottlenecks usually impact the Scrum Team Velocity.
3. Scrum Team Factors:
- Changes in Scrum Team: New team members can impact velocity as they adapt to the team and processes. If any existing team member moves out of the team, the remaining team members may take some time to adjust to the new reality.
- Team Motivation Levels: Low morale, burnout, or lack of motivation can negatively affect productivity.
- Communication Barriers: Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings, delays. In turn, these delays lead to decreased efficiency.
4. Misunderstanding and Misuse of Velocity:
- Focusing on the Number: Prioritizing just the velocity number over quality may lead to long-term problems. Some examples of these issues are incorrect data reporting and representation. When the Scrum Teams are solely judged on basis of Velocity – they may be tempted to slice and dice the data in order to show a project as “green”!
- Using Velocity as the sole Prediction Tool: Relying solely on past velocity to predict future performance can be misleading. Capacity mis-calulation is a very common reason velocity to appear low. Along with Valocity we should looks for
- Available Capacity
- Other planned work (for example, a planned release in previous Sprint may mean more time spent in Production firefights, a planned training will lead to team having less bandwidth)
- Any widespread cultural events (for example, Diwali in India)
Overcoming the common Real Life Issues related to Scrum Team Velocity
To address these challenges, Scrum Masters can choose several strategies :
- Foster a Culture of Ongoing Improvement: Leverage the Sprint Retrospectives to identify improvement areas and implement changes. These changes then can help the Scrum Team to better Plan their work.
- Prioritize Technical Debt: Work with the Product Owners to Prioritize Tech Debt removal work. This will enable the Developers to allocate time to address technical debt to prevent it from hindering future development. As a result, over all system stability will increase.
- Effective Impediment Removal: Help the Scrum Team to actively identify and resolve impediments that impact the team’s progress.
- Promote Transparency and Open Communication: Encourage open and honest communication within the team and with stakeholders.
- Set Realistic Sprint Goals: Work with the team to set achievable goals that balance productivity and sustainability.
- Focus on Quality over Quantity: Prioritize delivering high-quality work over rushing to meet unrealistic deadlines.
- Use Velocity as a Tool, Not a Target: Use velocity to track trends and identify areas for improvement, rather than as a rigid performance metric.
- Build a Strong Team Culture: Foster a positive and supportive team culture that encourages collaboration and innovation.
Recognizing these challenges and adopting effective strategies will help Scrum Masters to assist their teams in maintaining consistent and sustainable progress, which leads to the delivery of high-quality products and services.