This is a hard question to ask.
At the most simplistic level, we want to say – “I can code for 6 hours a day, every day for the next 2 weeks” – and hope that happens.
For some, it might be possible, for many it isn’t.
There are meetings, customer issues, planning sessions, product discussions, design chats, etc, etc – what your velocity is can change by the day, perhaps by the week.
The problem with velocity is once set, everyone thinks it never changes, but it changes constantly.
So you should be able to do 6 hours a day for two weeks which comes to 60 hours of development over that two-week cycle.
The truth is, you are probably doing somewhere between 30 – 40. That’s not meant to be depressing, that’s meant to be honest, transparent, and realistic about what your priorities are and what you can actually achieve.
Remember, the purpose of a sprint isn’t to finish everything under the sun, it’s about accomplishing what we can and often we forget this clear and simple point.
It’s about accomplishing as often as we can.
The worst enemy of any sprint is an overallocated velocity that never pans out.
If you are asked for your velocity, make sure you take into everything account when providing it.
If you don’t, you’re not only setting up yourself, but your team for failure.
