It's About the Product, Not Velocity

Watch out when the team or management are too concerned about velocity.  The problem with metrics, is that people will start trying to game the system to increase the numbers they think that you think are important. Imagine this conversation:

Good day Boss.  Good news, the team has increased their velocity by 125% in the past 4 sprints.

Some bosses would be happy with this, but out of context, this is an inconclusive statement.  That could have been 4 sprints making pixel level adjustments to the UI, or perhaps updating the CSS to use a different shade of green.  What about the product?  What value is being added to the product?

Look at the product and your cost.  Figure out your burn rate for the team per sprint.  Let's say it costs about $10K to run the team for a sprint.  Instead of the quoted scenario above, consider this scenario:

Hi there Boss.  We just spent $10K over the past sprint and this is what changed in the product.  Are you happy with what you just paid for?

Please, make a good product at a good cost.