Sprint velocity calculator

How sprint velocity is calculated

Velocity is the number of story points a team completes in a sprint, averaged across recent sprints:

velocity = total completed points ÷ number of sprints

The word doing the work is completed. A story that is nearly done contributes nothing to the sprint it was nearly done in. That feels unfair to the effort spent, and it is the only thing keeping the number honest — a velocity that counts unfinished work forecasts capacity the team has never actually demonstrated.

Why three sprints, not one

The calculator leads with a three-sprint average because a single sprint is not a data point. When a story slips across a sprint boundary it deflates the sprint it left and inflates the one it landed in, so both readings either side of that boundary are wrong in opposite directions.

If your recent sprints swing widely, the forecast range above will be wide too. That is the tool being accurate rather than unhelpful: a team ranging 13 to 29 points genuinely cannot promise a date with the confidence a single averaged number implies.

We wrote more about the boundary problem in what to do with carryover stories when calculating velocity, including the two defensible ways to handle the carried-over item.

What velocity cannot tell you

• Nothing about another team. Story points are calibrated per team. Comparing velocities across teams measures their estimating conventions, not their output.
• Nothing to target. The moment velocity becomes a goal, estimates inflate to meet it. The number still rises; the delivery does not.
• Nothing about value. Points measure effort, not whether the work was worth doing.

Frequently asked

How many sprints do I need before velocity means anything?

Three completed sprints is the usual minimum, and it stays rough until about six. Before that you have a number, not a trend.

Should bugs and unplanned work count?

Count them if you estimate them, and be consistent. The failure mode is estimating bugs some sprints and not others — that alone can move velocity more than any real change in throughput.

What if the team changes size?

Expect velocity to move and to take a few sprints to settle. Adding people usually lowers it first. Do not scale the old number by headcount — that assumes an even output per person that has never held in practice.

Is anything I type here stored?

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and nothing is saved, so closing the tab discards it.