practical story sizing brett maytom senior consultant, readify vic.net – 13 aug 2011
TRANSCRIPT
Practical Story SizingBrett MaytomSenior Consultant, Readify
Vic .NET – 13 Aug 2011
Talk Backlog What is size Relative Size Sizing Scales Velocity Story Size versus Task Sizing Running Sizing Meetings Questions
What is size? Unit of measure for work
Why Relative Sizing Your Time IS NOT My Time
Size does not … indicate time Indicate skill include risk change over time Increase\decrease with proficiency
Relative
Equal
HalfDouble
Four Times
Three Times
It’s relative
Sizing Scales Fibonacci
1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 Modified Fibonacci
1 2 3 5 8 13 20 50 100 Binary
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 T-Shirt
S M L XL
Other Symbols 0 (Zero)
“Too small and not worth sizing” ?
“I have no idea what you are talking about” ∞ (Infinity)
“This is way too big”
Velocity Rate of work of team
“Team can complete X story points per sprint” Not individual Full team
including BA, QA, Dev., Test, Architect, Scrum Master
Improves with time
Story Sizing Uses a relative sizing scale Not done at iteration planning Used for Release Planning
Stories and Tasks
Task Sizing Tasks defined in sprint planning Sized in hours Updated daily with remaining hours Used for sprint burndown Cross-check against Story Size using
current velocity
Sizing in multi-team Consistent story size critical Large scope differences Clear benchmarks Central team
How to play Planning Poker Product owner presents a story
Team clarify by asking questions “1 … 2 … 3 … show” Smallest and largest values explain Repeat until consensus reached
Spikes Totally new technology Never done before Have no idea how to size work
Time-boxed to a few days
Acid Test
A story sized in the first sprint should have the same size in later sprints
Practical Tips Use relative sizes for stories Do not factor in effort, risk and time Build a list of benchmark stories Continually inspect that “time” is not
introduced story Differentiate between Task and Story
sizes Your Time IS NOT My Time
