Task Estimation #

In our Agile projects, estimating the work needed to meet acceptance criteria or project milestones is essential for effective planning and delivery. We use story points instead of hours to estimate effort, considering factors like complexity, work volume, and risk. This approach emphasizes that story points measure relative effort rather than actual time, helping us improve estimation accuracy and project delivery.

Estimating software engineering tasks can be challenging due to various factors. We consider the best practices before and at the time of estimation.

Key Best Practices:

1. Break Down Tasks: Splitting tasks into smaller sub-tasks helps in understanding complexity and estimating each part more accurately.

2. Use Historical Data: Leveraging historical data from similar tasks provides a baseline for current estimates, though it should be validated against current requirements.

3. Team Involvement: Engaging team members in the estimation process gathers diverse perspectives and identifies potential roadblocks early on.

4. Estimation Techniques: Various techniques like T-Short Sizing, Three-Point Estimation, Planning Poker, Affinity Grouping, and Dot Voting can be utilized depending on the project stage.

5. Consider Risks and Communication: Assessing potential risks and planning for contingencies is crucial for accurate estimates.

Additional Considerations:

• Estimation is crucial for controlling work and time. Always validate estimates shared by peers or ex-team members before starting.

• Fully understand the requirements, build a final model or POC if needed, split it into components, assign values, and calculate the total estimate.

• Achieving precise estimates might not always be possible. In such cases, lower your confidence level accordingly.

• Pay attention to what’s not being said in the requirements. Ensure your estimates solve the actual business problem rather than just being a workaround.

• Bridge understanding gaps with the team lead and assign accurate values to each component of the model.

• If a task cannot be split into smaller tasks, consider doing a POC to help with estimation. Include the POC effort in the final estimate.

• Highlight and get approvals for any scope changes during the task’s progress.

• Ask questions and clarify doubts before making estimates. Do not assume anything, and ensure you’re 100% clear on why and what you are going to do.

• Identify and question your assumptions, as they may not be obvious initially.

By following these best practices, we can improve our estimation accuracy, leading to more efficient project delivery.