Imagine we are starting a new project, one that is key to our competitive position. We need to deliver in six months.  Our competition is already in the market, so we must at least match them on features and quality.  This project is twice as large as other projects we’ve done recently, but the project is important enough to put our best people on it.  Two teams stand out—their velocity is consistently high on the projects they’ve completed.  If we put those teams together, their combined velocity should do the trick!  Well, maybe it’s not quite that easy.  

In Predictable Change—Flexing the Five Core Levers of Software Development,  Andy Berner from QSM introduces the key metrics used to predict what it takes to do a new project and some of the issues you’ll encounter when moving from Agile iteration planning to planning new projects and releases.