Lecture 01 – PLANNING AND ESTIMATION
PLANNING AND ESTIMATION
In this lecture, we explore the synergy between planning and estimation in the Scrum framework. Gain insights into how effective planning and estimation practices contribute to achieving sprint goals and delivering value predictably. Discover practical strategies for aligning sprint planning with estimation efforts, maximizing the accuracy of forecasts, and empowering teams to optimize their workflow for success.
What is Estimation?
Planning and Estimation in Scrum refers to the collaborative processes used by Agile teams to define sprint goals, select backlog items, estimate effort, and create a plan for executing work during a sprint. Planning involves setting objectives, prioritizing backlog items, and creating a sprint backlog, while estimation involves assessing the effort required to complete tasks or user stories. These activities enable teams to align their efforts, make informed commitments, and achieve predictable delivery within sprint timeframes.
Why To estimate?
Estimation serves several important purposes in Agile development:
Predictability: Estimation helps teams forecast how much work they can complete within a given timeframe, enabling stakeholders to plan and manage expectations effectively.
Resource Allocation: Estimation allows teams to allocate resources appropriately, ensuring that they have the capacity to complete planned work within sprint timeframes.
Planning and Prioritization: Estimation informs prioritization decisions by helping teams identify the most valuable and feasible backlog items to work on in upcoming sprints.
Risk Management: Estimation helps teams identify potential risks and dependencies early on, allowing them to mitigate issues and plan accordingly to minimize project delays or disruptions.
Communication: Estimation facilitates communication and collaboration among team members, stakeholders, and other project stakeholders by providing a common understanding of the effort required to complete tasks or user stories.
Continuous Improvement: Estimation enables teams to reflect on past performance, identify areas for improvement, and refine their estimation practices over time to become more accurate and reliable.
Estimation is essential for enabling teams to plan, prioritize, and deliver value predictably, fostering transparency, collaboration, and success in Agile development.
But in true sense, estimates are required to plan work and time. It even helps the team to measure success in terms of numbers. Surprised! Yes, they do project success, through velocity, sustained velocity figures, up rise in the numbers. Estimates can be turned into release plans too!! Even they help you make weighty decisions. “Estimating isn’t about estimating at all.