2. AGENDA
What is Agile Estimation?
Story point estimation
Estimation techniques
Planning Poker overview
Points to note
Exercise : Blind Sizing
3. Agile Estimation
Thumb rules
Estimates should be derived collaboratively by the team and this includes the QA members as
well. Agile teams do not rely on a single expert to estimate.
7. Story point estimation
Overview
Research has shown that individuals are more accurate while estimating in relative terms*. This
forms the basis for story size estimation Story points are assigned based on complexity.
Story sizes can be represented in the form of:
•Fibonacci series 0,1,2,3,5,8,13…
•Running numbers 1,2,3,4,5…
•T shirt Sizes S, M, L , XL
In case of 1 and 2 more precision is achieved and this method can be adopted if there is enough
clarity and subject matter expertise.
However incase of exploratory type of stories T shirt sizing seems more appropriate since it is
easier to fit the stories approximately into one of the buckets.
* Lederer and Prasad, 1998. A Causal Model for Software Cost Estimating Error and Vicinanza et al.,
1991. Software Effort Estimation: An Exploratory Study of Expert Performance
9. Wideband Delphi
QA
Members Facilitator
Product Owner Developers
(Scrum Master)
selects a story at random
1
and reads it
answer questions 2 ask questions 2
each person writes an estimate on a
3
card, not showing the estimate to the
others.
When everyone has finished, the
4
estimators turn over their cards so
everyone can see them.
the high and low estimators explain their
estimates. 5
group discussion 6
Clarifies Issues and
7
queries
Repeat step 3 8
9
Highlight if estimates converge
If the estimates differ slightly, reach group consensus on one value. 10
Wide Band Delphi(Adapted)
10. Planning Poker overview
Estimating with Planning poker
• PO prepares a list of stories prior to the meeting
• PO presents a story one at a time
• Team asks questions for a timebox period of time for clarification (1-2 mins)
• Once the team has just enough data to estimate or the timebox expires everyone
chooses an estimate
• All estimates are revealed at the same time
• If all estimates match then you are done, move on to the next story
• Repeat from Step 3 typically starting the discussion with the two estimates that
were at opposite ends
11. Planning poker overview
Scale
Fibonacci Series : 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100
•Speed up the estimation process by limiting the number of choices (i.e. number of cards).
•Avoid a false sense of accuracy for high estimates.
•Encourage the team to split large stories into smaller ones.
Ex: Stories that are marked 20 and above to be categorized as epics
The zero card means “this story is already done” or “this story is pretty much
nothing, just a few minutes of work”.
The question mark card means “I have absolutely no idea at all. None.” Should be
rare. If this card is used too often, the team needs to discuss the stories more and try
to achieve better knowledge spread within the team.
The coffee cup card means “I’m too tired to think. Let’s take a short break.”
13. Points to Note
Non Development Activities (NDA)
Sample NDA
Non Development activities that occur on a
continuing basis distinct from project initiation
and completion of tasks need to be identified
upfront and estimated for as well. •Presentations
NDA could vary based on the project, the •Meetings
organizational standards, environment etc. •Demos
Trends generally indicate that it could take •Release Planning
anywhere between 20-40% of the Development
activities •Test Planning
•Project Management
•Iteration Review
•Story Decomposition
14. Re-Estimation
Re-Estimation
Week 1 Week 2
User Story X of size 10 arrives with
greater priority
Sprint 1 Sprint 1
Story Story Points Story Story Points
User Story A 10 User Story X 10
User Story B 20 User Story B 20
User Story C 20 User Story C 20
User Story D 5 User Story D 5
Product Backlog Product Backlog
Story Story Points Story Story Points
User Story E 10 User Story A 10
User Story F 10 User Story E 10
User Story G 30 User Story F 10
User Story G 30
NOTE: User Story A is chosen to move to backlog since User Story A is the only story that has the same
size as X. If there is more than one story that has the same size then the priority is looked at before
moving to backlog
