Estimating User Stories
There are several ways to estimate user stories. A simple way would be using the T-Shirt sizing method, where team members will mark each user story as S, M, L, or XL. These can easily describe the complexity of the user story, but will not be usable for tools like burndown charts and velocity charts. A common and pretty simple way to estimate story points with numbers is through Planning Poker, which involves everyone individually selecting a “card” with a number assigned to it, showing those cards to each other at the same time, and then discussing and re-voting, if needed.
The number scale is up to the team, but the Fibonacci sequence can be used, for starters. Planning Poker requires everyone to agree on a number, and not just averaging the estimates. This enforces everyone to discuss and reach a mutual understanding on the user story.
If the project is new and there are no prior estimates yet, the Product Owner and the team can first select a user story as the baseline for future estimates. This should be a medium complexity requirement such that the team can advise if the effort of other tasks is greater or smaller than that of the baseline task.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: