Discussion about scrum objectives..Usage of Velocity
Hi together :)
Let`s discuss the following question with help of scrum guide:
Who benefits most from the usage of velocity within the scrum team?
My answer would be: Velocity is not part of scrum guide. It is complementary practice, thats help the team to make a better forecast for the upcoming sprints. Velocity tries to increase transparency by defining a kind of capacity value from sprint to sprint. By inspecting this value, the team might be able to draw conclusions how much capacity value they could get done in the next sprint. So it helps first the developers by making a forecast, while it also helps the scrum master and product owner by having a metric. But as the scrum guide says, there are various practices to forefacst progress. We should value the importance of empiricism more than the effort on trying to establish another metric, as we are not able to predict the unknown in complex environments.
For me personally, a velocity might also distracts the team from the main work as the velocity says nothing about if the team is doing the right things.
I am interested in your feedback, as I need a discussion about this question for my PSM3 certification.
The Scrum Guide says "the more the Developers know about their past performance, their upcoming capacity, and their Definition of Done, the more confident they will be in their Sprint forecasts". Perhaps you could use this to reinforce your point that it firstly helps the Developers.
while it also helps the scrum master and product owner by having a metric
Why does having a metric such as velocity help a Scrum Master and Product Owner? If you make this statement, you might want to make the point about why it helps or provide some examples.
You may also want to tie in the velocity definition, since it measures the amount of Product Backlog 'done' in past Sprints. 'Done' is a critical concept in Scrum.
I liked that you wrote about empiricism, complexity, and forecasts.
Thanks to you both :)