The Misuse of Velocity in Agile

Using velocity as a performance metric can lead to significant misunderstandings and misapplications in Agile practices. Velocity, which should only be used as a planning metric, often gets weaponized by stakeholders who compare teams based on their velocity scores. This behavior can create unhealthy work environments where teams feel pressured to increase their velocity at any cost, leading to burnout and diminishing productivity. It is crucial to understand that each team's velocity is unique and should not be used to judge their performance against one another.