Estimating User Stories with Planning Poker

Estimating User Stories
Learning Why and How

Stephane Rondal
Arexo Consulting

2012 October

Grabsome free food

05/05/09 www.agiletour.com

About Stephane
• Consultant for banks, insurances, European
institutions &SMEs
• Java Architect (16+) & Agile Practionner (7+)
• Co-founder of Arexo Consulting

stephane.rondal@arexo.be
@stephanerondal


In this Talk, You’llLearn About
• Definitions of User Stories, Estimations
• WhyShould You Estimate User Stories
• The Bad Sides of Estimations
• How To Estimate (Planning Poker)
• Velocity
• Release Planning


Recommended Reading


Whatis a User Story
• A user story is a very slim and high-level
definition of a requirement, containing just
enough information so that the developers can
produce a reasonable estimate of the effort to
implement it.


Whatis a User Story
• Good User Stories are
o Focused on features, not tasks
o Independent
o Negotiable
o Valuable
o Small ( <= 1 sprint/iteration)
o Testable


Whatis an Estimate
• The approximate amount of
effort required to achieve a
user story
• Called story points
• Achieve = Done
(Done Done Done)


Definition of Done

Source: http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/106-definition-of-done-a-reference


Why Should You Estimate User Stories
• Your boss wantsyou
to!

• Whenwillthisthingber
eady?


• What can I buy for this price?


• Buy yourself some credibility


• Group estimating reveals differences in
knowledge and understanding
• Finding those gaps early is helpful
• But be disciplined to resist guessing and
speculation. Dig deeper, understand more, then
try estimating again.

Source : http://www.estherderby.com/2012/03/estimating-is-often-helpful-estimates-are-often-not.html


Estimatingisdifficult.
The more you do it, the betteryou’llgetatit.


What’s all the Bad Fuss About Estimations


• People construe estimates as promises. Failed
predictions fan blame. Trust and openness
suffer.
• People game estimates.
• People compare teams based velocity, while
velocity and story points are team-dependent
metrics.

Source : http://www.estherderby.com/2012/03/estimating-is-often-helpful-estimates-are-often-not.html


• Most of these critics are valid
• But…
o Are they really questioning estimations, or just some
estimation techniques?
o What other alternatives do they propose?
o Is your Agile practice at the same maturity level than
theirs?
o There’s no free lunch


How to Estimate User Stories

• Demystify the
black art…


How to Estimate User Stories

Scrum recommends a technique called

Planning Poker


Planning Poker

Get your team together, you want everybody to
participate


Planning Poker

Grab the top priority user
stories from your
backlog

Source: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1928232


Planning Poker
For each story
o Be time-boxed
o (Re-) present the user story,
briefly
o Then…


Planning Poker
Step 1 - Reflection Time (individual)

Source: http://www.crisp.se/bocker-och-produkter/planning-poker


Planning Poker
Step 2 – Showdown & Discuss



Planning Poker
Step 3 – Repeat until convergence



Best Practices
• Do not use units of time for story points
• Involve all those active in the realization of the
story
• Baseline your estimations, what means 2 and 5
for the team
• Avoid changing your baseline too often
• Keep track of your estimations


What’sNext
• We now have a
backlog with
more important
user stories
estimated more
precisely.

• But how does
this help us?

What’sNext
• How do we draw
the release
date?
• Or how do we
know what we’ll
get at a certain
date?


Velocity
• How many story points
were actually delivered
at the end
of the sprint?


Velocity
• Continue measuring
velocity of each sprint
Sprint Velocity
Sprint #1 16
Sprint #2 18
Range:
Sprint #3 14
Sprint #4 17
14-19
Sprint #5 19


Estimating the Release Date

Assuming there are 5 iterations left

At our worst velocity, we’ll reach 5x14 SP

At an average velocity, we’ll reach 5x16,5 SP

At our best velocity, we’ll reach 5x19 SP


Estimating the Release Date
• A good plan will go from
o We’ll be done in the 4th quarter
o We’ll be done in November
o We’ll be done in November 21st

Source: http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/


When to Estimate

Product PrioritizedBacklo
g
Backlog Release Sprintplanni
planning ng

Sprint
Backlog
Vision

Retrospective
Planning 2

Sprint
BacklogTasks

Sprint Review Daily Meetings

Where to Estimate
• Online: www.planningpoker.com
• Within most Agile project managment tools
• At a table, using cards


Conclusion
• Planning Poker and Velocity are not a perfect,
flawless estimation techniques
• Still much better than no estimation technique
at all
• Personally helped me gained lot of Agile
experience and maturity
• I recommend you use it if you have nothing
better

Thank You!

Questions / Feedback
stephane.rondal@arexo.be
@stephanerondal


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