đ How to 10x Your Team's Velocity
We all know how important team performance is. Itâs equally important to know whether, over time, your team is actually getting better - or not. One of the go-to metrics, widely used across the IT industry, is velocity.
After years of working with many teams, and having the chance to observe some of the best managers, engineering leads, and scrum masters in action - Iâve finally cracked the code on team performance. Iâll save you time, money, and effort⌠In this article youâll find 8 best techniques for increasing your teamâs velocity (up to 10x). No need to thank me - just put them into practice and⌠good luckâŚ
1. The Estimation Recalibrationâ˘
Letâs imagine that your team delivered 42 story points last sprint. Oh yes, thatâs cute, but what to do to get more? Simple!!! Redefine what a point means. For example, if a login task was a 2? That clearly should be a 5 - it touches authentication, after all. Security is complex. Nobody argues with security.
Do this in a few places and voila!!! You just improved velocity by 40% without writing a single extra line of code. Send that chart to leadership. They love charts that go up.
2. The Ticket Multiplication Methodâ˘
An interesting technique - imagine that every ticket is secretly three tickets. If we assume we have a task like âUpdate button colourâ, then using this method we create:
- Investigate current button colour (2 points)
- Remove existing colour implementation (2 points)
- Apply new colour based on design spec (2 points)
Thatâs 6 points instead of 2. Some call it âbreaking work into manageable chunksâ but also we can call it: âengineering excellenceâ.
For advanced practitioners: add a fourth ticket - âVerify button colour across devicesâ. And just like that, youâve created a high-performing team.
3. Strategic Scope Managementâ˘
One of the more advanced and complex methods - it requires a lot of flexibility, but can bring an incredible boost to your teamâs velocity. In short - if you notice that something wonât get done in the Sprint, absolutely do not treat it as âincompleteâ. Instead, let it become âdeprioritised following mid-sprint refinement based on evolving business needsâ. Move it out, log it as a conscious product decision, and watch your completion rate hit 100%.
And if anyone asks, you can always say that you âprotected the team from scope creepâ. Youâre not failing to deliver. Youâre practising discipline.
4. The Bug Economyâ˘
We all love Bugs, so briefly - a method you wonât hear about in Scrum courses. In short⌠When your team introduces a bug on Monday and fixes it by Wednesday, thatâs not a net zero. Thatâs a completed ticket. It has a lifecycle. It went through the board. It counts.
So for maximum impact, ensure bugs are estimated generously. Remember, yes, theyâre unpredictable by nature, but whoâs to say that increasing spacing by 8 pixels isnât worth 3 points?
5. The Spike Industrial Complexâ˘
Thereâs always a need for space, even a tiny one, dedicated to experiments. Use it wisely. Need to Google how an API works? Thatâs not Googling. Thatâs a spike. A technical investigation. 3 points minimum.
Reading documentation? Research Spike. Asking John from the platform team how their service works? Cross-team alignment spike. Making a cup of tea while thinking about architecture?⌠Anyway⌠you surely see the pattern.
6. The Ceremony Optimisation Paradoxâ˘
If your velocity is low, you clearly need more process to investigate why. Schedule a retro about velocity. Then a follow-up meeting to action the retro outcomes. Then a working group to track the actions. Create tickets for all of the above.
Youâve now spent 30% of your sprint discussing your sprint, but the board is full and things are moving across it. Thatâs what matters.
7. The AI Accelerator⢠(Use With Caution)
Introduce AI tooling. Your team will code faster. But hereâs the critical part - coach them to release improvements gradually. If you deliver twice as much in Sprint 1, leadership will expect that forever. Youâve just set a new baseline and youâll never recover.
Instead: deliver 15% more. Attribute it to âprocess maturityâ. Save the AI gains for when you really need them - like the sprint before annual reviews.
8. The Dashboard of Confidenceâ˘
This is the last of our techniques and is, in a way, a result of one or many of the previous steps. Your team has reached new heights of velocity, so you need to show it to the world - in that case - create a dashboard. Put velocity on it. Make the line go up and to the right. Add a cumulative flow diagram - nobody understands those, but they look sophisticated. Throw in a burndown chart that actually burns down for once (see tips 1-7 above).
Present it at the quarterly review. Use the phrase âsustainable paceâ at least twice. Nod thoughtfully when someone asks about other metrics. Say âthatâs Phase 2â.
Or - and I know this is radical - you could measure what actually matters: whether your usersâ lives got a little better this sprint.
But thatâs harder to put on a slide.