How can I track velocity for each team member in JIRA without the need for a paid plugin?

[SHEHZADALI ISMAILY]

Is there a filter I can write to find velocity breakdown for each team member? for a specific sprint? for last 5 sprints?

Perhaps using ScriptRunner Enhanced Search?

[Mark Segall · Accepted solution]

Hi @SHEHZADALI ISMAILY - I would recommend a different means for tracking.  Velocity is a mechanism for providing a rough idea of what a TEAM can take on in a given sprint based upon historic average.  Pointing is simply a rough estimate of effort/confidence in a specific story prior to beginning work so looking back at it historically provides little value.

If you want/need a breakdown of how team members are spending their time, I would recommend instead enforcing work logging as it will provide a more effective measurement of actual time spent.  

Note - Regardless of approach, this goes against the grain of agile and can have unintended impacts on morale and sprint planning efficiency as team members feel like "big brother is watching" and adds increased pressure to estimate every story more accurately.

[Bryan Hanks]

Exactly this. If you want to have your stories pointed inaccurately and pit every developer against every other developer, measure individual velocity.

Here are things I've seen happen:

• Developers won't help each other. Why should they? Helping someone else decreases your own "personal velocity" because it is time spent on something that isn't increasing your own velocity.
• Say goodbye to accurate pointing. All stories will be pointed higher.
  • If I know I can knock out 4  "2" stories in the sprint, I'll just estimate them at 5. Then my personal velocity goes from 8 to 20! Woo hoo, I'm a winner!
  • If I have a "5" hard story, then I'll point it at an 8 or 13, so it will have to be broken up into 2-3 "5" stories. Winner, winner - I get 10-15 points when I finish.

[SHEHZADALI ISMAILY]

@Mark Segall Thank you so much! Makes sense.