#153 – Apples and Pears

A Scrum Team’s Sprint Velocity indicates how much work (i.e., value) it can deliver in a Sprint, typically represented by the number of Story Points or User Stories that are accepted in the Sprint. The metric is only for the Scrum Team and never for anyone outside it. If a Manager, Release Train Engineer or the like wants to use your team’s Sprint Velocity for anything, fight against it with all that you have, as it’ll only lead to undesired purposes, such as using it for reporting purposes.

As the understanding of a Story Point varies from one Scrum Team to another, the Sprint Velocity can and should never be used to compare teams. Rather, it’s an indicator that helps the Scrum Master delve into potential improvements areas (e.g., if the Sprint Velocity fluctuates a lot), and the Product Owner can use it to forecast when the Scrum Team is likely to deliver Product Backlog Items or Product Increments if it follows its current Sprint Velocity.