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Top 10 Agile Estimation Practices on a Page
Mike Griffiths is an experienced project manager, author and consultant who works for PMI as a subject matter expert. Before joining PMI, Mike consulted and managed innovation and technology projects throughout Europe, North and South America for 30+ years. He was co-lead for the PMBOK Guide—Seventh Edition, lead for the Agile Practice Guide, and contributor to the PMI-ACP and PMP exam content outlines. Outside of PMI, Mike maintains the websites www.LeadingAnswers.com about leading teams and www.PMillustrated.com, which teaches project management for visual learners.
I am a real fan of one-pagers; there is special value in getting everything visible and presented on one page (okay, one page, two sides), that brings unique scope comprehension and clarity. Toyota and other lean organizations make use of “A3 Reports,” a one-page summary of an issue, its root causes, counter-measures and verification steps to summarize problems and planned solutions--they are powerful tools.
Incidentally, when I first started work I had a wise and cantankerous project manager who was full of oxymoronic proverbs. One I remember was: “If you cannot summarize it on only one page, you need to go off and learn more about it!” An astute paradox! Here is the summary.
Top 10 Agile Estimation Practices
1. Use more than one person. By engaging the team in the estimation process, we gain the benefits of additional insights and consensus building. Additional people bring different perspectives to estimating and spot things individuals may miss. Also, the involvement in the process generates better support and commitment for the estimates being produced.
2. Use more than one approach. Just as one person is likely to miss perspectives of estimating, so too are single approaches. Use multiple estimation approaches (comparison to similar projects, bottom up, user story points, etc.) and look for convergence between…
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