Starting Project! What is my Agile team’s initial velocity?

Yay!!! We got new project. Here we are! I am so lucky to be part of this team and this project 😊 Let's start..

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But, Wait!!! How do I know how much I have to pick for my first sprint? Where do I start?

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Well, why wait. Let's get started then. Often, teams have a dilemma on what story point number they should use to guide the planning of their first sprint / iteration. Now, this is nothing to worry about, really. There are only three scenarios – not many 😊

HISTORICAL INFO	EXPERT JUDGEMENT	CALCULATIONS
Team has worked together previously on agile projects and have an established velocity which they can take as a base to begin with	Team is new, they have not worked earlier together. But they collectively decide how much they think they can commit to in the first sprint	Team decides some calculations based on which they will pick the story points for the first iteration. E.g. Team of 5 people with 2 week sprint, may use 80% of (5X2)

Tip for you –

1. There are no specific calculations that is at present recommended by PMI for teams. Teams can establish their own calculations.
2. Scaled Agile has recommended calculations for first iteration. Hahaha, no I am not going to bother you with additional info. So, for now, this is it...

Now, you might be wondering, if team uses some random calculation or team decides how much to commit to, then will they be able to meet their commitments? Let's see what can happen really...

1. Team delivers all the stories that they picked. Everyone is happy
2. Team finishes the stories and they still have some time left in the sprint. In that scenario, they will go ahead and pick more stories depending on the time and bandwidth remaining
3. 3. Team couldn't finish all the stories. In that case, the unfinished stories go back to the backlog with their estimates updated.

See, it's so simple. I am sure you have enjoyed reading this. You can find more content on our blog, till next time happy learning!

Study: Agile Methodology