{"id":175,"date":"2008-12-08T23:08:25","date_gmt":"2008-12-09T06:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookforwardconsulting.com\/wordpress\/?p=175"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:10:56","slug":"agile-control-charts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts"},"content":{"rendered":"

I stumbled across Agile Shrugged today and read a post on how the author experienced a lot of variation in their team velocity.\u00a0\u00a0 The author did not seem too concerned with all the \u201csawtooth\u201d behavior of velocity chart because they felt the velocity graph was a \u201cfairly accurate measure of our teams velocity\u201d.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see if this qualitative assessment matches up with statistical process control<\/a>, one of the Six Sigma tools.<\/p>\n

THE USE OF CONTROL CHARTS<\/h2>\n

In Six Sigma, a common tool Green Belts and Black Belts use to monitor their processes are\u00a0control charts<\/a>.\u00a0 The control chart is an objective measurement tool to determine if the process under inspection can reliably produce what is expected of it in the future.\u00a0 By examining the patterns of the data on the control chart we can understand if the process is \u201cin control\u201d or \u201cout of control\u201d.\u00a0 If the process is \u201cout of control\u201d, then we need to inspect the process, discover the cause of the variation, \u201cmod\u201d the process and monitor the changes with\u2026a control chart.<\/p>\n

The diagram below is the velocity data from the team.\u00a0 You can see the \u201csawtooth\u201d, or oscillation, in velocity over the course of ten iterations.\u00a0 The team does seem to have improved their velocity over time, but we still have an order of magnitude difference in the completed output of the team from week-to-week.\u00a0 Is this significant?\u00a0 Should we care about the oscillation?\"\"<\/p>\n

To make a control chart, we need to run some basic statistics on the data: compute the\u00a0mean<\/a>,\u00a0standard deviation<\/a>\u00a0(\u03c3) and determine the upper and lower spec limits (mean \u00b1 3\u03c3).\u00a0 Here are the results for this data set:<\/p>\n

 mean: 6.6 ideal days    upper spec limit (USL): 24 ideal days\r\n \u03c3:    5.8 ideal days    lower spec limit (LSL): -10.8 ideal days<\/pre>\n
Next, we will plot the data on a control chart showing the mean (green line), the USL (red line), 1\u03c3 and 2\u03c3 (purple lines).\u00a0 I have eliminated the LSL because a negative velocity is meaningless.\"\"<\/p>\n
THE USE OF NELSON RULES<\/h3>\n
Now here is the interesting part: looking at the patterns.\u00a0 Using the\u00a0Nelson Rules<\/a>, we can examine the patterns in the control chart to see if the process is \u201cin control\u201d or \u201cout of control\u201d.\u00a0 Here are the rules that I think are relevant for this chart (please review all the rules if you are interested in learning more):<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. One point is more than 3 standard deviations from the mean.\u00a0Nope<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Fourteen (or more) points in a row alternate in direction, increasing then decreasing.\u00a0Only 8 points so far; maybe something to watch out for.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Four (or five) out of five points in a row are more than 1 standard deviation from the mean in the same direction.\u00a0\u00a0Only 2 out of 5 data points.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    What do we find by creating and examining the control chart?\u00a0 Statistical confirmation that our qualitative opinion that our planning process is indeed fine.\u00a0 Great!\u00a0 Keep up the good work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    I stumbled across Agile Shrugged today and read a post on how the author experienced a lot of variation in their team velocity.\u00a0\u00a0 The author did not seem too concerned  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[208,90,7,32,82,22,19,20,209,206,214,210,44,5,8,218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advanced-practitioners","category-agile-metrics","category-agile-scrum","category-agile-transformation","category-burndown-charts","category-coaching","category-design-excellence","category-design-for-six-sigma","category-leaders","category-practitioners","category-scrum-artifacts","category-scrum-framework","category-scrum-master","category-scrum-methodology","category-scrum-tools","category-scrum-velocity"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Scrum Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"754\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlton Nettleton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Escrito por\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlton Nettleton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carlton Nettleton\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a\"},\"headline\":\"How to Make an Agile Control Charts\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Advanced Practitioners\",\"Agile Metrics\",\"Agile Scrum\",\"Agile Transformation\",\"Burndown Charts\",\"Coaching\",\"Design Excellence\",\"Design for Six Sigma\",\"Leaders\",\"Practitioners\",\"Scrum Artifacts\",\"Scrum Framework\",\"Scrum Master\",\"Scrum Methodology\",\"Scrum Tools\",\"Scrum Velocity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a\"},\"description\":\"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":754},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/2008\\\/12\\\/08\\\/agile-control-charts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Make an Agile Control Charts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Scrum Academy\",\"description\":\"Everyone anywhere can do better Scrum\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a\",\"name\":\"Carlton Nettleton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carlton Nettleton\"},\"description\":\"My name is Carlton Nettleton and I am the President of Look Forward Consulting. I am an international speaker, trainer and author of the book, Fourteen Observations of Good Scrum Practice and my book has been translated into Spanish. My passion is to share my excitement, enthusiasm and encouragement with teams and organizations as they reach for higher levels of performance and engagement. My business is to help your business grow and flourish.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thescrumacademy.com\\\/es\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy","description":"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy","og_description":"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.","og_url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/","og_site_name":"The Scrum Academy","article_published_time":"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":754,"url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Carlton Nettleton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Escrito por":"Carlton Nettleton","Tiempo de lectura":"3 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlton Nettleton","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a"},"headline":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts","datePublished":"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png","articleSection":["Advanced Practitioners","Agile Metrics","Agile Scrum","Agile Transformation","Burndown Charts","Coaching","Design Excellence","Design for Six Sigma","Leaders","Practitioners","Scrum Artifacts","Scrum Framework","Scrum Master","Scrum Methodology","Scrum Tools","Scrum Velocity"],"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/","url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/","name":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts - The Scrum Academy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png","datePublished":"2008-12-09T06:08:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T08:10:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a"},"description":"An explanation of how Six Sigma uses agile control charts, used by Green and Black Belts, and Nelson Rules to examine patterns.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/screenshot_JSW_Classic_ControlChart_AllResolutions.png","width":1200,"height":754},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/2008\/12\/08\/agile-control-charts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Make an Agile Control Charts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/","name":"The Scrum Academy","description":"Everyone anywhere can do better Scrum","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/2a0fb199044ecd4af3704c734747fc6a","name":"Carlton Nettleton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d69c37c349230a49a1ec6c77c21c4b35043de9fbcce8a202d61f707025cd537?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carlton Nettleton"},"description":"My name is Carlton Nettleton and I am the President of Look Forward Consulting. I am an international speaker, trainer and author of the book, Fourteen Observations of Good Scrum Practice and my book has been translated into Spanish. My passion is to share my excitement, enthusiasm and encouragement with teams and organizations as they reach for higher levels of performance and engagement. My business is to help your business grow and flourish.","url":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescrumacademy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}