Incoporate story points guidelines in Trello guide

[tancnle]

Why

Teams would like to gain more insights into what they can get done in a given amount of time. Good estimation helps leadership to optimize for efficiency and impact.

What

Develop some guidelines on how to estimate using story points in the Trello guide.

How

• Propose a set of guidelines in the Trello guide
• Seek feedback from teams
• Run a Q&A or workshop meeting if needed

Resources

• Common mistakes when using story points
• Atlasssian - Estimation

[tancnle]

👋 @timmydzeko if you are keen. cc/ @talzid

[sia-disc]

The key to good estimation is to do it consistently every iteration (probably just like everything else practise makes perfect). The first iteration of each trimester going to be the worst probably because you don't have a good idea of tasks and their complexities, people and their capabilities but as you do it again and again, you'll learn more about what is complex for your team and what is not, so you get better at estimation. Each team is different in its capabilities and skills so what you might consider easy might be hard for another team or vice versa. That means people estimate things differently and that's fine. You should get better at the end, and when you restart next trimester with some new team members, your estimation won't be as good because new team means new/different capabilities and it takes a bit to understand what is easy/complex to them.

[tancnle]

Thanks, @salavian22. I like the point that estimation is a trigger for conversation around complexities and knowledge gaps. For example, if team members give different points on the same piece of work, it would be helpful to dig further to understand why.

Another idea that I have used at work regarding to estimation is communicating a range and possibility rather than just a number, that is 3 scores, one for worst, one for most likely and one for best.

[sia-disc]

Hmm interesting idea @tancnle. I've never done it like that. I assume you take the most likely in calculating your velocity? What happens to the other numbers?

[tancnle]

I assume you take the most likely in calculating your velocity?

It is based on the three-point estimation method. For context, I was using it in the consulting business and would like to factor inherent risks in our cost estimations.