Some Techniques
We have already mentioned Planning Poker and Fist of Five. The aim of these techniques is to get every member of the team (except the Product Owner and Scrum Master) to vote for story points for a story. Where there is no clear consensus, the story is debated and voted on again until there is a unanimous or majority agreement. Planning Poker uses a set of cards with the number range you selected, and each team member holds up a card for their vote.
Fist of Five is even simpler – the team member displays one to 5 fingers to give their opinion on the complexity of the user story. These techniques (there are plenty of alternatives, but the principles are the same) ensure that everyone in the team has a say and an opinion, thus assisting in team-building and helping inexperienced members to learn how to estimate.
The role of the Product Owner
As mentioned before, the team members do the estimations. When they have finished, the Product Owner can examine the scores and ask questions as to why a particular story was given its score; after all, he has the expert knowledge from a business perspective and may see complexity that the team may have missed. This review period is also a good time to look at stories that have very high scores – maybe they should be broken down into two or more simpler stories. The Product Owner can help in this regard.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: