Q and A on Velocity, Part IX
In the last installment , we talked about reasons that velocity goes up without any more accomplishment by the team. This is a disturbing occurrence to many managers who want to use velocity as a measure of productivity, and their insistence on treating low velocity as a productivity measure. We'll pick up the conversation from there. A: I don't like the "estimating in larger numbers" explanation. What is an alternative explanation? B: Perhaps they've developed skills, knowledge, and/or techniques that make it easier to get more work done. There are a few ways of measuring efficiency. One of the least useful is output over time. If one team of people produce more in a week than another, isn't the one more efficient? It's not possible to say. They may put out a disproportionate amount of effort in order to get a higher yield. That could be arguably more productive but it is not more efficient . If it's harder to get more work done, then yo...