1.
Velocity Is NOT
the Goal
Michael “Doc” Norton :: Groupon :: @DocOnDev
Agile Metrics

2.
Velocity Is NOT the Goal
Agile Metrics
Doc Norton!
Global Director of Engineering Culture!
doc@groupon.com | @DocOnDev

3.
Velocity Is NOT
the Goal
Michael “Doc” Norton :: Groupon :: @DocOnDev
Agile Metrics

4.
Velocity Is NOT
the Goal

5.
Velocity

6.
Velocity

7.
What’s Velocity?

8.
Work Units / Time

9.
Lagging Indicator

10.
Measure of a Complex System

11.
Lagging Indicator for a Complex System

12.
A Tale of Two
Velocities

13.
A
10, 11, 9, 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Disclaimer

14.
A
10, 11, 9, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10

15.
A
10, 11, 9, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10

16.
A
10, 11, 9, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 0.7
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 3.1

17.
A
10, 11, 9, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 0.7
Next: 9.3-10.7
B
7, 14, 6, 10
Yesterday’s Weather: 10
Rolling Average: 10
Std. Deviation: 3.1
Next: 6.9-13.1

18.
The Need for Speed

19.
The Hawthorn Effect

20.
That which is measured,
will improve

21.
That which is measured,
will improve
... at a cost

22.
Goodhart’s Law

23.
When a measure becomes a
target, it ceases to be a
good measure

24.
Perverse Incentives

25.
... an unintended result,
contrary to interests of the
incentive makers

26.
Dr. Deming
“What matters is not
setting quantitative
goals but fixing the
method by which
those goals are
attained”

27.
What causes variable
Velocity?

28.
Time Poorly Spent

29.
Dependency on Other Teams

30.
Poor Story Composition

31.
Too Much Work In Progress

32.
Scatter
Diagrams

33.
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
0 2 4 6 8
Scatter Diagrams
Auto Prices by Year

34.
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 25 50 75 100
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Complexity

35.
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Value

36.
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0 22.5 45 67.5 90
Scatter Diagrams
Velocity by Coverage

37.
“Friedman’s Thermostat”

38.
Correlation is not causation

39.
Correlation is not causation
but it sure is a hint

40.
Cumulative
Flow Diagrams

41.
Backlog

42.
Cumulative Flow Diagram

43.
0
5
10
15
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Velocity Chart

44.
Same
Different Perspective
Team
&
Data

45.
CFD
0
25
50
75
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Deployed Ready for Approval In Testing In Progress Ready To Start

46.
Measure
Many Things

47.
Measure Many Things
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Velocity

48.
Measure Many Things
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Velocity Quality

49.
Measure Many Things
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Velocity Quality Avg. Hours

50.
Measure Many Things
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
0
4
8
12
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Velocity Quality Avg. Hours Team Joy

51.
Real World
Examples

52.
Application Performance

53.
Velocity w/Std. Deviation

54.
Burn w/Std. Deviation

55.
Cumulative Flow

56.
Team Joy

57.
Department Joy

58.
One Last
Thing

59.
Metrics
are not for
Managers

60.
Metrics
are for
Teams

61.
Velocity Is NOT the Goal
Agile Metrics
Doc Norton!
Global Director of Engineering Culture!
doc@groupon.com | @DocOnDev