Agile estimation poker

Address: http://www.uml.org.cn/SoftWareProcess/201108264.asp

What is agile poker?

In fact, it should be called "estimation poker". In essence, it is a playing card. Based on the Delphi estimation principle, you can quickly estimate the number you need.

About the number on playing cards

Estimate the numbers on a playing card. Some cards are arranged by natural numbers, some are Fibonacci numbers, and some are discontinuous natural numbers. The specific poker choice depends on the span size of the estimated content. If the estimated value span is less than 10 times, it is better to use the natural sequence number. If the value span is large, if it is more than 10 times, it is better to use the Fibonacci number. Generally, estimation of software development work hours may lead to a better natural number. After all, the numbers are not big and the span is not exaggerated.

Significance and value of poker Estimation

The first point is to obtain a relatively accurate number.

Compared with other estimation methods, playing cards can bring about an additional benefit: Promoting communication between team members and sharing and learning more information. In poker estimation, there is a rule: when the gap in the estimation value is greater than the acceptable range, people with large estimates and people with small estimates should separately present their own opinions, what is the reason for Chen Ming? According to the suggestion, I made an estimation accordingly. In this way, everyone can have the opportunity to speak and share the knowledge they have learned, while others have learned a lot about others in this process, this knowledge is useful in the subsequent development work.

Will someone never speak?

The answer is, no. It is impossible for someone to estimate the average value every time, so avoid speaking. If there is such a person, haha, never let him go or play cards. It's up to him to estimate it. it's fast and accurate. Haha ~~ (Daydream ......)

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How to use agile poker?

Project Team Member

Scrum master: Lily, left in the back row, who is a QA Engineer and works carefully and practically.

Product owner: Yong Ge, Senior ITER on the right of the backend, countless software applications.

There are a total of four members: the front row, from left to right: Master Chen, the development team's eldest brother; Xiao Jie, a newcomer, outstanding performance; a Dian, handsome guy in the development team; Pan, a real master.

Cards

Each member involved in the estimation is assigned a group of cards of the same color, and two Joker members are not involved in the estimation.

Like ordinary game poker, agile poker also has 54 cards and four colors (13 each) and two joker. Each color of agile poker is an estimated playing card consisting of 13 cards. The cards are printed on the front of the card with numbers and symbols for estimation. The numbers are 1/2, 1 ~ 10 and 20, with the symbol "!", Represents unknown situations, such as failure to provide accurate estimates.

One pair of estimation poker can be used by four people. If more than four people are involved in the estimation, multiple sets of poker can be used. In terms of the number of people involved in the estimation, we generally recommend 4 to 8 people to participate in the estimation. If the number of people is too small, the estimation result may be greatly different. If the number of people is too large, the estimation time will be extended to reduce the estimation efficiency.

Explanation of backlog

Product Manager Yong Ge selects an entry from the backlog to explain the entry in detail.

The team members discuss and raise questions about the entry, and Yong GE will answer your questions one by one. A Dian is agile and can always think of unexpected things.

This step is an interaction between the Team and the product owner, helping the team and the product owner to better understand the items. At the same time, the product owner will modify the entries in time and improve the entries based on your feedback.

During the course of explaining the entry, do not set the owner of the entry or explicitly prefer some people to do the entry. This will greatly reduce the enthusiasm of team members not responsible for the entry, it may even disrupt the estimation order and results.

Estimation

When the team members confirm that they have fully understood the entry and have no major issues, they begin to estimate the entry and select cards that represent their own estimates, but do not immediately display cards. In the estimation process, team members cannot discuss with each other to avoid interfering with the estimation results;

During estimation, we often estimate relative values, not absolute values, such as the difficulty of developing a function or the size of code. The unit is often used, rather than absolute time or quantity, in this case, we need to select an Estimation Standard. The simplest way is to select an entry that is medium in size and easy to understand, set it to a standard value, such as 5, and then compare other entries with it, obtain the relative points of other items. It is best to use the same standard entry for each estimation, which is helpful for the statistics of the entire project. Estimation Using relative values can effectively monitor the team's production capabilities.

When you select a card, the numbers and symbols in the center of the card represent your estimate. Due to the number of cards, it is impossible for the card number to include all possibilities. When you encounter a special number, we can use a combination card. For example, if your estimate is 3.5, we can use a 3, plus a 1/2 to represent 3.5.

+= 3.5

When all members have selected a card, you can open the card at the same time.

The estimated results are: Master Chen, 7; Xiao Jie, 9; A Dian and pan, 3.

At the same time, the benefit of playing cards is that no one will be playing cards. Everyone's estimation has their own thoughts, which is also the essence of poker estimation.

Disputes and discussions

Compare the size of each card estimate. If there is a significant gap in the estimate value, it means that you do not have a consensus on the value of this item. The team needs to discuss the evaluation results of this item;

VS

The results of the first round are 3, 3, 7, and 9, respectively. The four numbers are very different. The two numbers are too small, the two are too large, and the average value of the four numbers is 5.5. At this time, we need to let the estimation value be 3 to explain why he thinks there are only 3 points and why it is so simple. Then we need to select 9 to explain why she thinks the value is relatively large; master Chen of 7 is the closest to the average value. You can either speak or not speak.

After that, you can give a brief discussion about each person's speech. During the discussion, you can ask the person in charge of the product at any time. The person in charge of the product needs to answer the corresponding questions and question the estimation of the team members. During the discussion, the scrum master should maintain the activity order, do not let everyone discuss the problem, and do not study the code writing details in depth. These are the problems solved by actual development; another important thing is to encourage everyone to speak and never let veterans or strong people control the situation.

Consensus

Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 to re-estimate the entry until the team agrees on the value of the entry.

Generally, a unified opinion can be obtained in at most three rounds.

In the second round, the results were 6, 7, 5, and 5. Although some people were reluctant to play the cards, after all, they reached a good consensus: the estimated results were 6 to 5 ~~

If there is still no unified opinion after three rounds, for example, the result of the fourth round is still 2, 5, 5, 8; then the scrum muster should immediately interrupt the estimation of the entry, take the average value or other acceptable values as the estimation result. No estimation is highly reliable, and poker is no exception. The purpose of poker estimation is to be as short as possible, this gives Team members a better understanding of what they need to do, along with an acceptable estimation result.

Agile estimation poker