For software developers, accurate estimating is a vital component of the project lifecycle. Whatever the team size, they must determine, estimate, and assign each team member their specific duties. The need of continuing this planning and estimate technique increases with the size of the team. When we say “estimate,” we’re referring to the task’s level of complexity or anticipated completion time. Lack of planning and estimating will undermine everyone’s confidence and damage the team’s relationships with each other.
Now that we have established the significance of planning, what is a suitable strategy to plan and estimate? The Planning Poker Estimate Technique, often known as Scrum Poker, is a popular agile estimation method. It’s a card game or gamified approach that makes estimating product backlogs enjoyable, straightforward, and engaging.
What then does a Planning Pokers game entail?
The first step in this game is to use a deck of cards. The numbers on the cards follow the Fibonacci sequence. The “Story points” are represented by these numbers. All the estimators are holding a deck each. An agile user story is read to the estimators by the product owner or the moderator. They can discuss a feature too.
Then comes the next step. Without disclosing their strategy, the players next make estimations by playing their cards face down. The number shown on their cards show their guess or difficulty level for the task or feature in discussion.
In the third step, all the participants flip their cards simultaneously and reveal their cards. It is likely that the estimates will differ significantly from one another on the first try.
Lastly, if everyone comes up with the same number, that figure serves as the estimate. If not, then all of the various estimates’ ranges are discussed along with the estimates themselves. The moderator must record everyone’s ideas and opinions because this conversation is very crucial.
At the end, this game is played again and again until an agreement is reached and everyone agrees on an estimate.
According to several research, this method of planning and estimate has a statistically greater success rate while still being enjoyable and cooperative. Additionally, these group estimates are more precise than individual ones. Other benefits of playing planning poker include:
- When you’re estimating a task for the first time, it might be complicated. There is nothing against which to compare the estimate. Scrum Poker teaches you how to evaluate these estimations. By engaging in the game, you can learn enough information to complete a range of activities that may be used as a benchmark for estimates in the future.
- Having multiple points of view on a subject is always a good idea. These are the ranges you should definitely talk about while playing with a group because there’s a chance you’ll hear estimations for all ranges. Consider that the software in question is a spa reservation app. You and a coworker estimate it to have 10 and 15 features, whereas a fresh recruit believes it to have 85. It can at first appear silly, but it’s possible that he had already worked on a comparable programme at his previous job and is aware of how difficult it can be.
The right team members make the game of Pointing Pokers the most effective. What type of people should be in the game, then?
- A scrum master guides the team and conducts the agile meetings. Therefore, they ought to be playing.
- Members of the Scrum team are responsible for producing the project deliverables from the product backlog. They contribute to the user story as well.
- Product Owner: The product manager will go over each user story with the team and answer any questions they may have.
Blog 