After discussing a task, developers each put in a card for their estimation. Once every developer has put a card in, all cards are revealed at once. This anonymous contribution means that developers can be honest about their estimate. A novice developer that thinks a task might be very complicated can confidently rate it an 8, 13, or higher without fear of being shamed.
Also, this gives a clear indication of misunderstanding a spec. If there is a widespread of values or specific outliers, the team can discuss these estimates further. One developer may estimate particularly high if he or she knows of an issue that the others didn’t think of.
Task estimating is a valuable part of an Agile project. It may take some extra work, but the benefits are easily worth the investment. There are a number of different ways to create estimates, and each method may work better or worse for individual organizations. However, it is always vital to have developers in the process. Not only are they most directly affected by estimates, they also offer great insight on creating estimates.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: