Leveraging an agile approach to software development isn’t just about going faster. It’s about concrete, measurable progress. Reliable data matters. Completion is achieved when the acceptance tests pass. Then the story is considered done.
Saying a story is “90% done” hides uncertainty and misleads planning. It doesn’t tell us what’s left, how risky the remainder is, or when the work will be releasable.
For honest forecasting and useful velocity charts, we only record stories that have passed their acceptance tests. That keeps our metrics trustworthy and reduces false optimism.
Discussions for your team
- Do our velocity metrics include only stories with passing acceptance tests?
- How do builders handle partially completed work at the end of a sprint?