Being Agile: Eleven Breakthrough Techniques to Keep You from “Waterfalling Backward”

Using Velocity Effectively

In Chapter 8, “Release Often,” the breakthrough recommendation is that your team should write the bulk of its user stories at the beginning of the release prior to the start of the first iteration. There are many reasons for doing so, not the least of which touches on the topic of this chapter: delivering value. Effectively using velocity helps deliver value because it enables you to work with your stakeholders to prioritize user stories to best meet their needs. To illustrate, I’ll use a well-worn example: the frequent-flyer program.

Say that you and your team are creating a frequent-flyer program and there are five major features that are targeted for completion. You’ve completed the first one (the ability to book ...