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

Agile Teams and Escaping Velocity with Doc Norton and Claire Podulka Follow us on Twitter! @tech_done_right, leave us a review on iTunes, and please sign up for our newsletter! 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 LevelSpecial Guests: Claire Podulka and Doc Norton.