Planning Poker #
Planning Poker is a consensus-based estimation technique used in Agile methodologies to estimate the effort or relative size of user stories or tasks. This method encourages discussion and collaboration within the team, leading to more accurate and agreed-upon estimates.
Key Characteristics of Planning Poker: #
– Consensus-Driven: Ensures that the entire team agrees on the estimates.
– Encourages Discussion: Facilitates dialogue and knowledge sharing among team members.
– Relative Estimation: Focuses on comparing the size and complexity of different tasks rather than estimating the time required.
– Interactive and Engaging: Makes the estimation process more interactive and engaging for the team.
Steps of Planning Poker: #
1. Preparation:
– The Product Owner prepares a list of user stories to be estimated.
– Each team member receives a set of Planning Poker cards with values, typically from the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …).
2. Presentation:
– The Product Owner presents a user story to the team, explaining the requirements and acceptance criteria.
3. Discussion:
– The team discusses the user story to ensure everyone understands it. Questions and clarifications are addressed during this phase.
4. Estimation:
– Each team member privately selects a card representing their estimate for the user story’s effort or complexity.
– All team members reveal their cards simultaneously.
5. Consensus:
– If all estimates are the same, that estimate is recorded.
– If estimates vary, the team discusses the reasons for the differences. Team members with the highest and lowest estimates explain their reasoning.
– The process is repeated until a consensus is reached, or at least the estimates converge closely.
6. Recording:
– The agreed-upon estimate is recorded in the user story.
Example of Planning Poker for an E-Commerce Website #
Scenario: The team is estimating user stories for an e-commerce website project. The goal is to estimate the effort required to implement the “Product Search” feature.
Participants:
– Product Owner: Eva
– Development Team: Alice (Frontend Developer), Bob (Backend Developer), Carol (QA Engineer)
– Scrum Master: Dave
User Story:
– ID: PBI-002
– Description: As a user, I want to search for products and apply filters so that I can find what I need quickly.
– Acceptance Criteria:
– A search bar is available on the homepage.
– Filters by category, price, and rating are available.
– Search results are displayed in a grid format.
Planning Poker Session:
1. Presentation:
– Eva (Product Owner) presents the user story PBI-002 to the team, detailing the requirements and acceptance criteria.
2. Discussion:
– The team discusses the user story.
– Alice: “Implementing the search bar and filters will require some frontend work, but we can reuse some components from the product listing page.”
– Bob: “We’ll need to optimize the database queries to handle search and filter operations efficiently.”
– Carol: “We should also plan for thorough testing, including edge cases like special characters in the search terms.”
3. Estimation:
– Each team member privately selects a card representing their estimate for the effort required.
– Alice selects 5, Bob selects 8, and Carol selects 5.
4. Consensus:
– The cards are revealed: 5, 8, 5.
– Bob explains his higher estimate: “I think optimizing the database queries might take longer than expected.”
– Alice and Carol discuss their lower estimates, considering reuse of existing components and simpler database queries.
– After discussion, the team agrees to re-estimate.
5. Re-Estimation:
– The team members select their cards again.
– This time, Alice selects 5, Bob selects 5, and Carol selects 5.
6. Recording:
– The consensus estimate of 5 story points is recorded for user story PBI-002.
Benefits of Planning Poker: #
– Accurate Estimates: Combines multiple perspectives to provide more accurate estimates.
– Team Alignment: Ensures all team members have a shared understanding of the user stories.
– Transparency: Promotes open discussion about the complexity and effort of tasks.
– Engagement: Involves all team members, making the estimation process more engaging and collaborative.
Conclusion #
Planning Poker is an effective estimation technique in Agile that promotes collaboration, discussion, and consensus among team members. By involving the entire team in the estimation process, Planning Poker helps achieve more accurate and reliable estimates, fostering a shared understanding of the work to be done. The example of estimating the “Product Search” feature for an e-commerce website demonstrates how Planning Poker facilitates informed decision-making and consensus-building within the team.
