Who’s Playing Agile Schedule Games? - Johanna Rothman

Double Your Velocity

In “Double Your Velocity,” someone such as the not-so-agile project manager above misunderstands the velocity measurement that agile projects use.

If you want to increase your velocity, the fastest and easiest way is to double the number of points you assign to your stories; that will double your velocity.

Break Double Your Velocity

To break out of the game playing, ask your manager this question: “What result do you want? Is there something you are looking for aside from completing the project as quickly as possible?”

Explain that in agile approaches and remind the manager that team velocity is personal, like hair color or eye color.

Everyone Start Your Own Story

This game occurs when someone external to the team sees the team not meeting its burndown chart and imposes “help.” “Everyone Start Your Own Story” creates waste, because it creates WIP (Work in Progress). Instead of the team collaborating, swarming around one story at a time, each person tries to make progress alone

A better use of the team’s time is to swarm around features. Counter “Everyone Start Your Own Story” with “Everyone Start the Same Story Together”–swarming around a story. This reduces work in progress, and helps the team create any tools the team needs as they need it.

Come On, We Can Do More!

This schedule game is not as bad as “Double Your Velocity”, but it’s not great. Estimation is not the place for stretch goals. You want to make estimation as accurate as possible.

Who’s Playing Agile Schedule Games?