Escape Velocity: Better Metrics for Agile Teams

by Doc Norton

Overview

Velocity is the most commonly used metric in agile software delivery. It is also perhaps the least effective metrics in agile software delivery. In "Escape Velocity", Doc Norton walks the reader through common issues with metrics and how to avoid them, altermative metrics that not only help agile teams perform better, but enable them to continuously improve, and techniques for forecasting that vastly outperform the use of velocity. In a quirky, casual, and information dense style, Doc Norton makes the topic of tracking data entertaining and shows us how to be more effective in the pursuit of excellent software.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578644851
Publisher:	OnBelay Consulting, LLC
Publication date:	02/02/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	170
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Doc is a software delivery professional working to make the world of software development a better place. His experience covers a wide range of development topics, examples of which can be found on his blog at https://www.docondev.com/. Doc declares expertise in no single language or methodology and is immediately suspicious of anyone who declares such expertise. A frequent and well-rated international speaker, Doc is passionate about helping others become better developers, working with teams to improve delivery, and building great organizations. In his role at OnBelay (https://www.onbelay.co), Doc is provided opportunities to realize his passion every day.

Table of Contents

• What is Velocity?
  • Velocity is a Vector
  • Velocity is a Lagging Indicator
  • Velocity is a Measure of a Complex System
  • Velocity By Way of Analogy
• Velocity Anti-Patterns
  • Before We Get Started
  • Demand for Higher Velocity
  • Cross-team Velocity Comparisons
  • Estimation Teams
  • Estimating in Time
  • Comparing Estimates to Actuals
  • Measuring Individual Velocity
  • Iteration Packing
• PotentialSide Effects of Metrics
  • The Hawthorne Effect
  • Goodhart’s Law
  • Friedman’s Thermostat
  • Perverse Incentives
• Variable Velocity
  • Velocity Should Stabilize
  • But What If Velocity Doesn’t Stabilize?
  • Poor Story Composition
  • Dependencies on Other Teams or Individuals
  • Too Much Work In Process
  • Silos
  • Various Forms of Mismanagement
• Other Metrics
  • Lead Time
  • Cycle Time
  • Cumulative Flow Diagrams
  • Delivery Frequency
  • Code Quality
  • Team Joy
  • Forecasting
• Customer Metrics
  • Outcomes Over Outputs
  • Feature Use
• Looking for Correlations
  • Scatter Diagrams
• Balanced Metrics
  • A Starting Point

Editorial Reviews

I will recommend this book naturally to every member of a Scrum team, but it should provide interesting ideas to every software development project manager or executive.
-- Scrum Expert

Great insights around metrics, usage, misuse as well as thought provoking suggestions on what to focus on.
-- David Lokietz

From the Publisher