There are two reasons we estimate stories: to understand scope and then to communicate that size of that scope to others.
Understanding Scope of Tasks
In order to be effective at anything we do in life, it’s best to step back and understand what it is exactly that we want to accomplish.
- How hard is it?
- How complex is it?
- Are there unknowns?
- How long might it take?
- How well do we understand it?
- Are there other tasks that need to be done first?
As an individual we ponder these questions ourselves. As a team we discuss them together during our weekly scope and grooming to refine our shared understanding.
It’s easy to dismiss small tasks as not worth any further scrutiny because they feel obvious. Asking these questions takes little time. Even the simplest tasks can hold surprises if we take a moment to ask these few simple questions.
A fool does not care whether he understands a thing or not…
– Proverbs
Communicating Effort
It’s hard to express how long or hard a task is to others that are not in our domain of knowledge. Perhaps they’ve never seen what code even looks like, much less tried to program.
Thus we point and estimate stories. I prefer to call them effort points or “oof” points. How much “oof” effort does something take to accomplish.
Here is an example with my household chores.
| “oof” effort | Story Points | ~Time | |
| Take out trash | Little “oof” | 1 | 1-10 min |
| Wash the dishes | Small “oof” | 3 | 10-60 min |
| Mow the lawn | Medium “oof” | 5 | 1-3 hrs |
| File taxes | Big “oof” | 8 | 3-8 hrs |
| Remodel bedroom | Large “oof” | 13 | 2-5 days |
What’s important to notice is that Story Points / Effort doesn’t mean a specific length of time but rather an estimated time rage.
Story Points are a valuable tool to roughly translate effort → time estimations.
This gives Project Managers a way of estimating a rough expectations of when a collection of tasks might be completed. This empowers Project Managers therefor to set a realistic estimated timelines & expectations with external stakeholders for when tasks and projects might be completed. I wrote more on Planning Roadmaps & Project Estimation in another post.
Personal Cautions & Notes – Estimate Stories
- Lean heavily on higher end time values when trying to translate points to time; that is be pragmatic.
- It’s highly unrealistic it only takes under 1 min to take out the trash & put a new bag in, probably closer to 8 min.
- Project managers don’t mind hearing that something is complex, big or unknown, the sooner they know this the better.
- Project Managers love the radical honesty, it helps them set realistic expectations with their stakeholders.
- Always round up to higher point levels if something is on the fence.
- Talk about estimating with your team and create a good Developer Culture when you estimate stories.
(cover photo credit: Jonathan Stassen / JStassen Photography)