Tech Done Right

Episode 15: Agile Teams and Escaping Velocity with Doc Norton and Claire Podulka


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Agile Teams and Escaping Velocity with Doc Norton and Claire Podulka

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Guests

Doc Norton: Co-Founder and CEO of CTO2.

Claire Podulka: Project Manager at Table XI.

Summary

How can you tell whether an agile software team is successful? Many teams use a single measure: velocity. Doc Norton, author of Escape Velocity, and Claire Podulka join the show to discuss why velocity is not a useful measure: it doesn't explain the problems with an unsuccessful team, and successful teams probably don't need it. We discuss the problems with velocity, what to use instead, and get on soapboxes for our least favorite agile anti-patterns.

Notes

02:48 - Metrics for Agile Teams: Velocity

  • Escape Velocity: Better Metrics for Scrum Teams by Doc Norton
  • Trust Driven Development by Noel Rappin
  • 06:15 - Using Velocity

    07:49 - Problems When Relying Solely on Velocity and Estimation

    12:35 - Theory of Flow

    15:17 - Body Weight Analogy

    17:17 - Assessing Team Health

    18:37 - Team Temperature (Joy)

    21:51 - Lead Time and Cycle Time

    30:04 - Managing Estimation and Team Metrics When Teams and Scope Change

    33:17 - Using Metrics: Large Organizations vs Small Organizations

    39:18 - Breaking Down Team Velocity at the Individual Level

    Special Guests: Claire Podulka and Doc Norton.

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