# Velocity Tracking

> Agile metric measuring team's average amount of work completed per sprint, typically in story points. Used for capacity planning, forecasting, and identifying productivity trends over time.

- **URL:** https://www.atlassian.com/agile/project-management/metrics
- **Category:** Practices
- **Tags:** Agile, Metrics, Forecasting
- **Updated:** 2026-03-12 11:52
- **Canonical page:** https://timetrack.works/he/items/velocity-tracking

## Details

## Overview

Velocity tracking is an agile practice that measures how much work a team completes in each sprint, typically measured in story points. It provides a baseline for planning future sprints and forecasting project completion dates.

## What is Velocity

**Velocity = Sum of story points for completed user stories in a sprint**

For example:
- Sprint 1: 23 points completed
- Sprint 2: 27 points completed
- Sprint 3: 25 points completed
- Average velocity: 25 points per sprint

## How to Calculate

### Per Sprint:
1. Add up story points for all completed stories
2. Only count fully "done" stories (not partially complete)
3. Don't count carried-over work
4. Record the total

### Average Velocity:
- Calculate mean of last 3-5 sprints
- More sprints = more stable average
- Use for capacity planning
- Adjust for team changes

## Uses of Velocity

### Sprint Planning:
- Determine realistic sprint commitment
- Avoid over/under-committing
- Balance team capacity
- Set achievable goals

### Forecasting:
- Estimate completion dates
- Calculate remaining sprints needed
- Project roadmap timelines
- Set stakeholder expectations

### Improvement Tracking:
- Identify productivity trends
- Measure impact of process changes
- Assess team growth
- Spot impediments early

## Best Practices

- Track consistently across sprints
- Don't compare velocity between teams
- Use as planning tool, not performance metric
- Account for team changes
- Consider capacity variations (holidays, etc.)
- Track over 3-5 sprints for stability
- Don't artificially inflate velocity

## Common Mistakes

- Using as performance measurement
- Pressuring teams to increase velocity
- Comparing different teams
- Focusing on velocity over value delivered
- Not adjusting for team size changes
- Using first few sprints (unstable)

## Factors Affecting Velocity

- Team size and composition
- Team experience and skill
- Technical debt
- Process improvements
- External dependencies
- Sprint length
- Definition of done consistency

## Tools for Tracking

- Jira velocity charts
- Azure DevOps analytics
- Trello with power-ups
- Spreadsheet tracking
- Rally Software
- VersionOne

## Related Metrics

- Sprint burndown
- Cumulative flow
- Cycle time
- Lead time
- Throughput

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