Sprint Velocity
Average number of story points completed per sprint over a rolling period
What is Sprint Velocity?
Sprint velocity is the average amount of work, measured in story points, that a team completes in a sprint. It shows the pace at which a team delivers.
Teams use it to plan how much work to take on, but it is a planning tool for a single team, not a measure of productivity to compare between teams.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Information Technology
- Sub-function
- Software Delivery
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Efficiency
- Unit
- pts
- Measurement frequency
- Per sprint
- Formula
- Sum of story points completed in last N sprints / N
How to calculate it
Add up the story points completed in the last several sprints and divide by the number of sprints.
For example, if a team completed 32, 28, 35 and 33 points over four sprints, velocity is (32 + 28 + 35 + 33) / 4 = 32 points.
Story points are relative estimates that differ between teams, so velocity should only be compared for the same team over time.
Where it is used
Planning sprints
Choose realistic amounts of work.
Forecasting delivery
Estimate when work will finish.
Spotting change
See when capacity shifts.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Never compare velocity between teams.
- Pressure to raise velocity leads to inflated estimates.
- Focus on delivered value, not points.
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