Agile Estimation and Sizing Flashcards
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Read the first 7 Agile Estimation and Sizing flashcards as text
T-Shirt sizing (XS, S, M, L, XL) is best suited for which phase of agile estimation?
Answer: High-level portfolio or roadmap estimation
T-shirt sizing provides a fast, rough estimate for a large number of items at the portfolio or roadmap level before detailed sprint-level sizing is needed.
Which agile estimation technique groups a large number of items on a wall from smallest to largest without using numerical values?
Answer: Affinity Estimation
Affinity Estimation has team members silently arrange items from smallest to largest on a wall, then add size labels after groupings emerge, making it fast for large backlogs.
A team's last three sprint velocities were 32, 28, and 36 story points. There are 220 story points remaining in the backlog. Approximately how many more sprints are needed to complete the project?
Answer: 7 sprints
Average velocity = (32+28+36)/3 = 32 points/sprint; 220 ÷ 32 ≈ 6.9, so approximately 7 sprints are needed.
What is a key risk of using a team's velocity from a previous project to plan a new project with different team members?
Answer: Team composition changes affect velocity, making prior data unreliable
Velocity is team-specific because it reflects the collective capability, practices, and shared understanding of that particular team — a different team will have a different velocity.
In agile, what is the purpose of 'Definition of Ready' (DoR) as it relates to estimation?
Answer: It ensures stories are well-understood enough for the team to estimate confidently
A Definition of Ready ensures user stories have enough detail, acceptance criteria, and clarity so the team can estimate them accurately during backlog refinement.
Which statement best reflects the agile view on estimation accuracy?
Answer: Estimates are approximations that improve over time as the team learns
Agile treats estimates as approximations that become more accurate as teams gain experience, learn their velocity, and refine their understanding of the product.
What does the term 'cone of uncertainty' mean in agile project planning?
Answer: Estimate accuracy improves as more is known about the project over time
The cone of uncertainty illustrates that early project estimates have a wide range of variance that narrows as discovery, prototyping, and development provide more information.