Skip to main content

Agile Story Point Estimation Techniques - Planning Poker - By Ankur Mistry

In my previous article, we have discussed what is Agile Story Point Estimation. In this article, we will learn how to estimate story points using "Planning Poker" cards.

Planning Poker is a relative estimation technique used by teams to estimate the user story.

Before starting, the planning poker team will define and agree on the parameters to measure the amount of work like a number of screens and number of fields etc. Identify a reference story that the team has done before or understands very well. Ideally, they will compare other stories with the reference story and one by one do the estimation.

Steps
  1. Product Owner will explain the story to be estimated and the development team will ask questions if they have any issues or unclarity. For example -

    Design Related- Do we have to learn new things before starting the design/HTML/jQuery etc?
    Coding Related- Do we have any code class library ready or we have to write it from the scratch?
    Testing Related- Any specific setup required for Unit testing?

    Other questions like any dependencies in tasks, does anyone have written code for similar stories etc. are also included.
  2. Once the Team understands the user story, they compare the story with the reference story that they have selected.
  3. Each team member comes up with the size of the story related to the reference user story.
  4. Team members show the card to everyone.


    Image Source: Autentia Planning Poker 
  5. If the team member has consensus or the variance is less, assign the story points and move on to the next.
  6. If there are conflicts, then each team member explains the rationale behind the number.
  7. The product owner explains the story further or clarifies misunderstanding if any.
  8. Team repeats steps until the team has consensus or variance is less or up to three rounds.
    image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCCUEtjCpCs  
Even after three rounds, if there is no consensus and variance is high, assign the biggest number and move forward.

For first few months with the team, it's challenging but once the team is used to it, it will be great fun and useful for the product owner to make decisions for the team as well as the business.

I hope you liked this article. In my next article, we will discuss T-Shirt size estimation.

Reference
  • https://leanpitch.com/
  • http://www.agilebuddha.com/agile/agile-estimation-8-steps-to-successful-story-point-estimation/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

User Story In Agile Scrum - By Ankur Mistry

In this article, we will learn what User Story is and how to write one. User Story plays a major role here. It is the part of the Agile process where instead of writing comprehensive requirements, we write a short description of a feature. As the  Agile Manifesto  says 'Working Software' Over 'Comprehensive Documents'. What is User Story? User Story is a short and simple description of the feature or requirements of the project. Generally, user stories are written on sticky notes or index cards as a user or role-based perspective. User Story Template As a < type of user or role >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >. The template identifies 3 questions - "Who", "What", and "Why". If the team doesn't know these three answers, it means they don't understand the story, and if they don't understand the story, then it's difficult to split it well.   Reference:https://mazoea.wordpres

Visual Studio Team Services - Agile - Scrum Project Management Tools

Before starting this article let's understand what is Agile and Scrum.  What is Agile Agile is a  Method  of project management that is characterized by dividing module in to tasks and t asks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans. In other words, Agile is a Time Boxed incremental software development method.  What is Scrum Scrum is an incremental agile software development framework  (Agile Framework).   Agile Scrum Process in Short. Product Backlog:  A product owner creates a customer’s wish list and prioritized it and create backlog, called Product Backlog. Sprint Planning:  In this meeting team select small part or module from the Top Priority Wish List of Product Backlog and prepare a small task list. Setting Capacity and Sprint:  Team has to deliver the tasks in 2 weeks or 4 weeks sprint, here Scrum Master bind tasks with Time and User. Scrum Master’s role:  Is to make sure team focused on its goal. End of the sprint:  

The Burn Up Charts In Scrum By: Namrata Parik

I would like to propose a less-taken path in my maiden article to track the progress in scrum. We usually do it using the burn down chart which is relatively easier to understand as compared to the burn up chart. These charts help the team and stakeholders to see and track the progress at any point in the release process or sprint. Burn-down chart provides us the information showing the progress based on the remaining hours or story points from top to bottom. (The burn-down chart can be plotted using story points, task count or the remaining effort) This chart is a plot of expected remaining and actual remaining, this is the most used chart in scrum and since it has only two lines it is considered to be a simple chart. It does not cover the scope creep. So sometimes what might look like ‘no work ‘ done by the team may actually be a result of scope creep. The chart below reflects that the team has not done any progress in Sprint 5 and 6 as the story points remain the same. Image