Glossary
What is velocity? Definition and limits
Velocity is the story points a team completes per sprint. What it is good for, what it is not, and why turning it into a target destroys it.
Velocity is the sum of story points a team actually completed in a sprint. Averaged over several sprints it gives an empirical sense of how much fits into the next one. That is all it is, and it should not be less than that either.
What it is good for
Planning the next sprint, and roughly projecting when a scope might be done. It is an observation about the past from which you cautiously infer the future.
What it is not good for
Being a target. The moment velocity is supposed to go up, it does: through more generous estimating. The number improves, the amount of work delivered does not, and the estimates are ruined as a basis for planning. It is equally useless for comparing two teams: the point scale is internal to each.
In Zuuna
Zuuna totals completed points per sprint and shows them next to capacity and the burndown, as a basis for planning, not a leaderboard.
FAQ
When does velocity become meaningful?
After roughly three to five sprints of equal length with a similar team. Before that it swings too much to plan with.
What about holidays and sickness?
Velocity drops, and rightly so. That is why you plan with capacity (available person-days) and not with the average alone.
Do unfinished items count partially?
No. Only finished work counts. Half points for half-done work make the number useless.