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.