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Can we measure team performance based on story points completion? Is it a good practise?

Last post 05:31 pm November 23, 2021 by Balaji Dhamodaran
6 replies
12:31 pm November 18, 2021

01:08 pm November 18, 2021

As you have passed PSM I & II you should know that velocity is not a good measurement, and should only be there to provide insight to the Developers and no one else, this is definitely not a management metric. 

Team performance metrics should be agreed upon by the team.  EBM provides a number of KVMs from its four KVAs that might be useful.  There are also a number of existing blogs and forum posts about this subject too. 


01:09 pm November 18, 2021

I would say "no".

Story points are a tool to aid with estimation and sprint planning. If story points become a goal in themselves then it would lead to bad behaviors like overestimating story points to make the delivery look better.

IME story points are subject to a gradual inflation anyway, for various reasons, which is no problem for estimation if the inflation is gradual. But may present an entirely fictitious picture of a team growing in capacity if it's seen as some objective measure.


01:27 pm November 18, 2021

Can we measure team performance based on story points completion? Is it a good practise?

Who's "we"? Developers, or others who care about the value they produce?


03:30 pm November 18, 2021

Can we measure team performance based on story points completion?

Sure you can if you want to measure a team based upon guesses made with limited information because that is what a story point is.  And the practice of pointing will cause the values to change over time as the team starts to get better understanding of the domain and each other's abilities.  

Is it a good practise?

In my opinion, it is a terrible practice. A team's performance should be measured by the ability to consistently deliver value to the stakeholders and the organization as a whole.  


11:35 pm November 18, 2021

Can we measure team performance based on story points completion?

Once you go down this slippery slope, it may cease to become a good measure.

 


10:42 am November 23, 2021

Storypoint completion may not be same for all sprints. it could be looked at only by the team to forecast for future sprints. But it is not measure for teams performance.Outcome of the delivery and how it helped to realise value for the organisation could help. Evidence Based Management(EBM) can be tried.


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