Your Scrum team has completed their third sprint, and the Product Owner notices that the team's velocity has been inconsistent: 21 story points in Sprint 1, 15 in Sprint 2, and 18 in Sprint 3. The Product Owner is concerned about meeting the release deadline and asks you, as the Scrum Master, to commit to a specific velocity for the remaining sprints so stakeholders can plan accordingly. The team is still learning to work together and refining their estimation practices. What should you do?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B. Velocity is a planning metric unique to each team that helps predict future capacity, but it should never be treated as a commitment or target to be imposed. The Scrum Master should educate the Product Owner that velocity naturally stabilizes as the team matures, and the focus should be on continuous improvement in estimation and collaboration (ECO Process Task 5.1 on empirical measurement). Option A is the main distractor because while calculating average velocity is useful for forecasting, committing to a specific number misuses the metric and can create pressure that undermines team dynamics and sustainable pace. The team's velocity will become more predictable naturally as they improve their practices, and forcing commitments based on immature data is counterproductive.

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