Measure Cycle Time

Cycle time is the time it takes to go from pushing a change as a PR to getting it in front of customers.

Many engineering organizations practicing Agile development seem satisfied with their process proving that they care about speed. It is hard to measure Velocity based on arbitrary Story Points.

Velocity isn’t about measuring the team. It is about having a coarse-grained forecast. And forecasts are Estimates.

> Estimates should be as accurate as possible but only as precise as necessary to keep the cost of estimation low.[¹]

Velocity is the rate at which a team delivers value to the customer.

A team that completes many tasks but delivers no value to the customer should have zero velocity. Velocity is a measurement, not an objective.

Cycle time measures the speed at which an engineering team can deliver working software as calculated from when they start working on it until it has been shipped and is providing customer value.

We’re trying to understand the speed at which an engineering team can deliver working software. As measured from the moment they start working on it until it has been shipped and is providing customer value.

—

[¹]: Robert Martin(2019): Clean Agile (https://www.amazon.com/Clean-Agile-Basics-Robert-Martin/dp/0135781868)