Spikes, Story points and Velocity

A good blog on Spikes, Story points and Velocity – I believe spikes can deliver tremendous value. When done right these should not merely answer questions, but involve some prototyping, coding and doing some high level architecture. While these efforts can be time boxed, how can you measure them? What percentage of time is spent? How much effort was put on it? While I do believe “spikes” should not be left uncheck, I believe they should be pointed and incentivized on Sprint N-1 to aid the success on Sprint N and N+1. I also, found out adding points to spikes sheds light on the true capacity of the team and on the true scope of the project. That is if they can deliver 100 points, and I add 25 points of spikes my expectation is that they will deliver 125 points next sprint. It’s a game so I don’t like to complicate “Velocity” and or use it as my only source of performance. If we’re adding lots of spikes maybe there is uncertainty and the stories on the backlog, maybe requirements changed and they need to be revised, maybe more “discovery is needed”, maybe there are gaps on skills, etc. Pointing spikes has helped me uncover true capacity, reduce uncertainty and even increase engagement playing the “Scrum” Game. Read -https://www.agilealliance.org/the-practice-of-sizing-spikes-with-story-points/