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Escape Velocity

Time and time again, we see teams struggle with velocity as a genuinely helpful metric. In Escape Velocity we consider better alternatives to velocity as a metric and look at how other data such as lead time, flow, customer satisfaction, and team joy can not only help a team improve delivery, but provide better answers to “When will this be done?”

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Escape Velocity
October 01, 2024

Escape Velocity: Better Metrics for Agile Teams

Escape Velocity is the result of over 15 years of experience working with teams on improving the way they deliver software products.

In the mid 2000s, I started seeing detrimental patterns of behavior across teams practicing some form of agile; especially those who had chosen the Scrum framework. These patterns were directly related to or at least influenced by the use of velocity as a metric, and I found myself coaching teams away from velocity.

As time passed, my understanding of metrics, their potential influence on teams, alternatives to velocity, and more successful and sustainable approaches deepened. My ability to explain why velocity was insufficient as a metric grew more informed, as did my knowledge of what to do instead.

I eventually codified much of that knowledge into the book, Escape Velocity. While on the surface, Escape Velocity may appear to be an anti-velocity treatise, it is actually about how to use metrics in a healthy way, what pitfalls to look out for, and what metrics can better serve the team and the organization in the pursuit of excellence.

Now available from pragprog.com/titles/d-dnescape.

This work was written and produced entirely by the author. We are proud to be distributing it.

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Upcoming Author Appearances

  • 2024-10-07 R. Mark Volkmann, iJS New York
  • 2024-10-16 Michael Keeling, Global Software Architecture Summit, Barcelona
  • 2024-10-25 Lorilyn Jordan Miller, Clojure Conj 2024
  • 2024-11-05 Johanna Rothman, Business Agility Meetup Berlin
  • 2024-11-07 Andy Atkinson, PASS Community Data Summit, Seattle, WA
  • 2024-11-11 Anders Schau Knatten, NDC TechTown

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