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Scrum Planning and Estimation
Estimation Techniques
Summary

Summary: Scrum Planning and Estimation Techniques

<a className="txt-link" href="https://www.teachingAgile.com/about">Abhay Talreja</a>

By Abhay Talreja

4/17/2023

My latest article - Empirical Process Control - The Key to Agile Success

In this course, we've covered several essential estimation techniques used in Scrum Planning and Estimation. These techniques help Scrum Teams effectively plan, estimate, and forecast their work, ensuring the timely and successful delivery of valuable product increments. Let's quickly recap the key aspects of these techniques:

Planning Poker

  1. Collaborative and consensus-based: Planning Poker encourages collaboration and communication within the Development Team and helps them reach a consensus on effort estimates for Product Backlog Items (PBIs).

  2. Reduced bias and increased accuracy: Planning Poker minimizes the risk of anchoring bias and involves the entire Development Team in the estimation process, resulting in more accurate estimates.

  3. Steps: Select a PBI, discuss the PBI, estimate independently, reveal estimates, discuss differences, and repeat until consensus is reached.

T-Shirt Sizing

  1. Simple and intuitive: T-Shirt Sizing offers a straightforward method for estimating effort by assigning relative sizes (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large) to PBIs.

  2. Quick estimation and reduced pressure: T-Shirt Sizing enables quick estimation of relative effort, allowing the Development Team to focus on actual development work.

  3. Steps: Select a PBI, discuss the PBI, assign T-Shirt Sizes, reach consensus, continue with remaining PBIs, and optionally convert sizes to numeric values if desired.

Affinity Estimation

  1. Grouping and relative comparison: Affinity Estimation involves grouping PBIs based on their relative effort, promoting a more efficient and accurate estimation process.

  2. Collaborative and visual: Affinity Estimation encourages collaboration among the Development Team and provides a visual representation of the effort required for each PBI.

  3. Steps: Prepare the PBIs, conduct a silent sort, discuss and adjust the groupings, and assign effort estimates to each group.

By understanding and applying these Scrum Planning and Estimation techniques, Scrum Teams can enhance their collaboration, communication, and estimation accuracy. This, in turn, leads to better planning, forecasting, and ultimately, more successful product development. We hope you found these lessons helpful, and we encourage you to try these techniques in your Scrum practice!

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