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In agile, velocity is used as a calculation that could measure units of work completed in a period of time. It simply indicates the average amount of product backlog turned into an increment of product during a sprint. It is widely used as a calibration tool which helps teams create accurate and efficient timelines.
Velocity serves certain purposes in a sprint. It allows the team to determine the dates you can reach product milestones. Whenever there is a need to deliver a product on a certain date, the team could use velocity to track estimates of how fast the product could be completed.
Since velocity are read in trends, it could help measure and improve efficiency. When velocity numbers are trending down, this could be a sign for the team to dig deeper into possible inefficiencies that caused the downward trend. On the other hand, when velocity numbers are increasing, it should be looked into as well. It could mean that the team is moving too fast which may affect the quality of the product.
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