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Team Name Estimation Techniques

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Why ? My teams all use planning poker to estimate effort, however I’ve noticed several things starting to happen that are fairly common in teams using this estimation technique:

People get: - Very caught up in the actual number, forgetting that it’s just an estimate

and wrong anyway. - Very emotionally invested in being “right”, they start defending their

estimates, or giving in to the majority without discussion. - There is confusion between team members about the proper way to

estimate effort.

When the real deal when estimating effort is to get a Shared Understanding and Consensus,

it is just a way to plan and know where we are against the plan.

80/20 Rule

L.E.B.E Rule

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Team name Estimation Techniques

So, what’s the goal ? The real deal when estimating effort is

to get a Shared Understanding and Consensus, it is just a way to plan and know where we are against the plan.

80/20 Rule

L.E.B.E Rule

Getting about 80% right estimates with 20% of the effort

Less Effort Better Estimates

Relative estimate vs. absolute

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Team name Estimation Techniques

The Workshop

Content

2 3

Planning Poker Relative Estimation

1

4 Absolute Estimates

Affinity estimation

Rules - 4 Exercises.

- 10 Minutes duration per exercise.

- Team had to estimate items using a diff. technique.

- Each team got a set of cards with items written on

them.

- Each team got the same items so we could compare between teams at the end.

- When each team finished estimating, the facilitator wrote results per team in a flip chart/white board, and start the discussion about the technique.

- The facilitator shared correct answers once each team has completed each exercise.

- A general discussion is hold about all techniques and the team decides where we go from here

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Exercise 1: Absolute Estimates

Description The items to be estimated are dogs. Instructions - Each team have to estimate the weight of each dog(item) in kilograms - Each team discuss about the item to get shared understanding - After consensus, the team should decide what estimate would be assigned to each

dog (item)

Special note - To be able to compare each estimation technique, all teams should try their best to get results as soon as they can.

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Exercise 1: Absolute Estimates Results

Item Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Team 5 Correct Answer

Chihuahua 3

Great Dane 90

Staffordshire Bull Terrier

17

Appalachian Mountain Dog

0

Border Collie 34

American Cocker Spaniel

13

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Exercise 2: Planning Poker Estimates

Description The items to be estimated are country area. Remember that this technique is used for relative estimation Instructions - Use Spain as your reference point (Value assigned to Spain Area is 3) - Each team have to estimate the area of each country(item) - Each team discuss about the item to get shared understanding, then each person chooses a card from their

set that they think is the closes fit. - Everyone displays their cards at the same time (avoid influencing other between each other). - People discuss the outliers, usually the highest and lowest numbers to see of the people who selected them,

had a different understanding to everyone else. - After discussion, people re-vote taking in consideration anything uncovered in the discussion. - Once everyone converges on a number that is selected as the estimate. - If convergence is not reached by the third vote, then the team would take the highest number or majority

number.

Special note - To be able to compare each estimation technique, all teams should try their best to get results as

soon as they can.

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Exercise 2: Planning Poker Results

Item Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Team 5 Correct Answer

Spain 3 3 3 3 3 3

China 40

Luxembourg 0

Denmark 1

South Africa 8

Belize 1

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Exercise 3: Affinity Estimation

Description The items to be estimated are cars volume. Remember that this technique is used for relative estimation Instructions - Lay out one set of planning poker cards so that you have all the numbers. - Agree on a reference story, and place it next to the reference point. In this case put the card “Convertible”

next to the Planning poker card identified with the number “3”. - Give the stack of story cards to the first person in the team. - Each person has a turn where you can either:

- take a new car from the stack of story cards and place it where you think it fits, or - Move a card already on the table to a new spot if you don’t agree with it. - Note: You must always move a card if you don’t agree with the estimate rather than playing a new one - Note2: If you play a new card it means you are happy with every card on the table.

- After your turn you hand the cards to the next person. - If you do a full circuit of the team and one card has been moved each time, then you discuss it before

continuing. - Note: People could explain why they are placing a card at a certain number, but remember, open

discussion just when a card was moved.

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Exercise 3: Affinity Estimation Results

Item Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Team 5 Correct Answer

Motorbike

Startship enterprize

SUV

Minivan

Convertible 3 3 3 3 3 3

Bus

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Exercise 4: Relative Estimation

Description The items to be estimated are Animal weight. Remember that this technique is used for relative estimation Instructions - Take all story cards and arrange them on the table in ascending size (ignore the reference point for now) - Decide what is bigger and what’s the same size (It can be done all team members together) - Once you the team has arranged all cards, only then assign numbers, starting with the reference point (the

“impala” in this case)

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Exercise 4: Relative estimation Results

Item Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Team 5 Correct Answer

Elephant

Giraffe

Elephant shrew

crocodile

snake

impala 3 3 3 3 3 3

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Conclusions

What did we learn - Ask the teams to take a look at all results and see what they have noticed. - Ask them about the importance of having the same reference point (having 5 teams

working together on a single backlog) - Ask the team if they would change anything about the way that they estimate based

on what we learn. - Try to get an answer as action item to be implemented during the next sprint Materials required • Cards with the items on them for each team • Planning poker cards for each person • A flipchart and marker to write up the results of each round for people to see • A stopwatch or cellphone with timing functionality • Some team members keen to learn about estimation, I did the workshop with 5 groups of 3-4 people. • An hour time box is sufficient if your team are used to estimating. Maybe more if your teams are new to it

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Team name Estimation Techniques

Be truthful Be open

“As with any discipline, nothing beats practice coupled with an ongoing desire to learn.”

Enjoy yourself

Be enthusiastic

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Q&A

Muchas gracias

Merci beaucoup

Thank you

Questions & Suggestions

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