#5 Yoyo Velocity

Symptom: Experiencing a yoyo velocity where on one sprint the team are achieving a high velocity followed by sprint with low velocity followed by a high velocity sprint etc. etc.

Probable Cause: One root cause can be not resizing stories that are part done from a previous sprint and carrying on with the story in the following sprint.

Suggested Resolution: Try to re-estimate the story size of part done stories according to how much effort is required to complete them during the planning for the next sprint. This will reflect the true velocity of the team during a sprint, rather than earning some additional story points from the previous sprint and throwing out the velocity measure.

Ideally you should be getting to a good granular level of user story that can be completed in a sprint and avoid this scenario all together, but that is another post ;o)

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