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When estimating initial velocity

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Saida Adilkhanova SAP Delivery Lead| Capgemini UK Southampton, Eng, United Kingdom
When estimating initial velocity, the team should most likely:
• A. Discuss among the team their expectations of how many story points they can address.
• B. Use a Kanban workflow to identify steps and calculate velocity.
• C. Use velocity of past iterations or make a calculated guess.
• D. Discuss with the customer their expectation for the velocity of producing the product.
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Mohamed El Sherbiny Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
I think A could be more relevant
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MOUSSA EL HAJRAOUI Casablanca, Morocco
Distinguish two cases:
If the team worked together for long time (a long-lived team) response C is correct.
If it's the first iteration for a forming team. They may forecast a velocity value or range with a reasonable sprint commitment. Response A.
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Initial velocity means the team are just starting with their first iteration, so this eliminates C.

B and D are definitely not correct.

A is the correct answer. During first few iterations, the team estimates roughly how many Story Points they can get done and they adjust this as they move from one sprint to another until they come to a comfortable number to use for the upcoming iterations. It normally takes 3 sprints on average for the team to normalize its velocity.
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
It should be "A". Even if the team has been together for a while, the moment we talk about a new context such as a different product or project, past velocity data is useless. B is a red herring and D breaks the segregation of responsibility between the team and customer roles of how/when vs. what/why.

Kiron
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Wade Harshman Scrum Master| GDIT Indianapolis, In, United States
:• D. Discuss with the customer their expectation for the velocity of producing the product."

Never, ever.
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GEBREWAHD HADGU Ethiopia
But as i read from other source its answer is C but for me it is not acceptable.
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David Portas London, United Kingdom
A or C are the best answers and they are not mutually exclusive, but I don't like the question very much. A new team on their first iteration or starting an unfamiliar piece of work has no reason to estimate velocity. Doing so may well become a distraction.

The team should decide what they can achieve in the first iteration by setting a goal, understanding what needs to be done and then estimating accordingly where they need to. The scope and planning of the iteration could be done before any formal numbers are assigned. Velocity is always measured at the end of the iteration based on actual performance rather than predicted performance.

On answer C, I agree with Moussa. It can be very useful for a team to review points and velocity from previous pieces of work if that's a relevant baseline that helps their estimating. The team need to decide how to do their estimates and previous work is a possible source of data.
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George Balekani Mahlangu Gt, South Africa
D is most appealing to the answer since it is the initial stage and the customer expectation should be heard
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1 reply by Wade Harshman
Jul 26, 2021 1:35 PM
Wade Harshman
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Your customer should not expect a velocity. Your customer should expect potentially shippable product increments. Velocity is a metric the team uses to estimate how much work it can accomplish in a set amount of time. Allowing your customer to have a voice in your team's velocity will ruin it as a meaningful planning tool.
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Wade Harshman Scrum Master| GDIT Indianapolis, In, United States
Jul 22, 2021 3:58 PM
Replying to George Balekani Mahlangu
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D is most appealing to the answer since it is the initial stage and the customer expectation should be heard
Your customer should not expect a velocity. Your customer should expect potentially shippable product increments. Velocity is a metric the team uses to estimate how much work it can accomplish in a set amount of time. Allowing your customer to have a voice in your team's velocity will ruin it as a meaningful planning tool.

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