Question

Name techniques for estimating the time needed to complete an item on the productbacklog.

Answer 1

ANSWER:

GIVEN THAT:

NAME TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING THE TIME NEEDED TO COMPLETE AN ITEM ON THE PRODUCT BACKLOG IS STORY POINTS:

A. For example, if I decide to buy a new car this weekend it is sufficient for me to know that I can get a Toyota or Honda for around $30,000 and that a Ferrari goes for closer to $800,000. I do not need to know a more precise cost of the Honda ($31,850) before knowing it should be on my short list of cars to evaluate while the Ferrari should not. Sprint planning meetings typically go into deeper detail than is appropriate for product backlog item estimating (whether in story points or ideal days). Since we become accustomed during sprint planning to breaking user stories into tasks and considering those tasks in more detail, there is a chance this will carry over into any story point estimating done during the same meeting. So, when should story point estimating happen? I'll describe the ideal case, which you can easily adjust for the real-world intrusions on your project. Projects typically start in either of two ways:

B. A reasonably fully stocked product backlog is written before the first sprint begins and all items are estimated before the first sprint planning meeting. [If you do this, be careful not to write all user stories with too much detail. Each product backlog item you write represents an investment. User stories should therefore be elaborated just-in-time and in just-enough detail that they can be turned into functionality in one sprint.]

C. We know we've got to do the project so we dive in. During the first sprint or two, all the user stories are written and estimated just like above.

D. Estimate your product backlog in points, not in units of time.