Mapping Story points against hour Estimation
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Farhan Sabir's picture

Mapping Story points against hour Estimation

Farhan Sabir asked on April 19, 2017 - 3:05am | Replies (1).

Hi everyone,

I have just taken over responsibility as a a scrum master and although i have worked under a scrum team before for a year but i always had difficulty in estimating according to story points. So in my first prokject as a scrum master, I took a risk and though to map story points against hours and it went very well. Here is how i mapped:

Points - Hours

1       2-4

3       4-8

5       8-16

7      16-24

9      24+

When i gave them a range the team was very comfortable so what i did estimated it according to the table above and in the end they all had a rough time frame then when and how they are going to complete it. I need to know that if it is feasible in long run?

Need very valuable comments on this one :)

Mitch Goldstein's picture

I like your idea very much. It is similar to the way that I prefer to estimate, with two key differences:

- I recommend a 'modified' Fibonacci sequence: 1,2, 3, 4, 5 as the point scale. 8, 13 are allowed, but represent stories too big to plan. Why do I add '4'? Because 1, 2, 3, 5 has a big hole in it...

- I use the baseline recommended by the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology of having a one-point story representing the unit of effort required to start, execute and finish a story to the definition of done in one sprint day. We loosely define a sprint day as the six hours of an eight hour day where people actually work. Thus, we allocate eight points of work during a typical sprint for a typical team member.

That said, I am amenable to making 'half-days' a reasonably consistent substitute for full days. It is important that your decisions reflect the will and planning effectiveness of the team. Always make sure to be flexible in interpreting how agile should be implemented. Also, ensure never to freak out and get brain lock over estimates. Remember - they are ESTIMATES.

@MitchSumma

1 Answer

Mitch Goldstein's picture

I like your idea very much. It is similar to the way that I prefer to estimate, with two key differences:

- I recommend a 'modified' Fibonacci sequence: 1,2, 3, 4, 5 as the point scale. 8, 13 are allowed, but represent stories too big to plan. Why do I add '4'? Because 1, 2, 3, 5 has a big hole in it...

- I use the baseline recommended by the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology of having a one-point story representing the unit of effort required to start, execute and finish a story to the definition of done in one sprint day. We loosely define a sprint day as the six hours of an eight hour day where people actually work. Thus, we allocate eight points of work during a typical sprint for a typical team member.

That said, I am amenable to making 'half-days' a reasonably consistent substitute for full days. It is important that your decisions reflect the will and planning effectiveness of the team. Always make sure to be flexible in interpreting how agile should be implemented. Also, ensure never to freak out and get brain lock over estimates. Remember - they are ESTIMATES.

@MitchSumma
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