Scrum: Unfinished products and sprint velocity [closed]

Question

Let’s say product X is worth 10 story points. Development starts in sprint Y, but is not completed in time. What do you with the story points when calculating sprint Y’s velocity?

Would you:

a. Allocate 0 story points for sprint Y and 10 points for the sprint it is eventually completed in;

b. Determine the story points for the remaining work (let’s say 3) and allocate the difference to sprint Y (7 in our example); or

c. Something else?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Depends on whether you care about your "instantaneous" or "average" velocity. Personally, I wouldn't make it more complicated than necessary and just add it into the sprint where it was completed. Calculate your average velocity by looking at the average number of points completed per sprint over the last 3, 6, and 12 months. Hopefully, these will eventually converge and you'll have a good idea of how much you can get done in one sprint.

Answer 2

Allocate 0 points for sprint Y and 10 points when the story is eventually completed. Either the story is done or it is not done. There is no middle ground. You want to avoid the 50% done or your teams may implement many stories half way and none completely.

It is perfectly okay not to finish a story during a sprint and completing it in the next sprint. But, you should not present this story to the product owner during the sprint review.

If you have enough stories for a given sprint, it won't matter if the story is completed this sprint or the next. Things will average.

It is also important to explain to the team and to the stakeholders that the velocity helps estimate when the release will take place and is not a measure of the team performance.

The team should be judged on the final result they produce, not when those results are produced.

Combined with a well prioritized backlog, you will create good quality software that means your customers needs.