Sometimes the simple is the best approach. Using a simple board and stickies can be a quick way of utilizing relative sizing to develop point estimates for Stories. This is especially useful when getting a team started on their agile journey, however, it works just as well for an experienced team.
The process starts with writing the stories on a sticky and drawing a couple of columns for point bins. The column are the Fibonacci numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and yeah I throw in a 10 just to do it. Some people through in a half point and but even with 4 years of calculus in college, I really just want to do simple math.
When doing this activity the first story is always the most difficult to place. Everyone asks questions. But once you get the 1st down, it does get easier.
Tips:
- Don’t let the team over think the points
- Some stories are just copy and paste of other stories with slight modifications
- If the team gets stuck on a number just go with the higher number and move on.
Planning pokers may also be useful in sizing. Give everyone cards and have them estimate with the points cards. If there is a great difference in the lowest, average and highest, then the lowest and highest explain their votes. Then the team re-votes. It helps to speed up the process.
Planning Poker Round 1
Round 1 Discussion
Round 2 Voting
Hopefully it won’t take too many rounds. If it does declare an average at some point just to keep it moving.
Good Luck.
