Victor GinobaBusiness Analyst| HarmoniaDumfries, Va, United States
Hello All,
The other day I was introduced to planning poker which used the Fibonacci sequence to estimate the story points to various user stories in our Agile company project.
I just wanted to know what your view point is on this method and whether or not you use it in your environment as well.
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Not a fan of planning poker, but certainly using the [modified] Fibonacci scale is a great mechanism for teams to apply the relative sizing technique to their work. This technique allows teams to gauge the 'size' of the work while abstracting time; is it big, small, really big, really small, etc. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Just to comment something obvious: people can apply Fibonacci without using Planning Poker.
...
2 replies by Kiron Bondale and Victor Ginoba
Dec 10, 2019 7:41 AM
Kiron Bondale
...
Absolutely correct, Sergio!
I've found that as team members evolve from being siloed individual specialists to understanding the full nature of completing a work item, the likelihood of major differences of opinion related to effort reduces so the cards can be put away.
With such teams, it is not uncommon to hear a team member say "Oh, that's a 5" and then one or two others will support that sizing. If there is any disagreement, they talk it out briefly.
Kiron
Dec 10, 2019 9:15 AM
Victor Ginoba
...
Hi Sergio,
Yes, this was a very obvious point. however, what other methods have you used to apply the Fibonacci sequence?
Just to comment something obvious: people can apply Fibonacci without using Planning Poker.
Absolutely correct, Sergio!
I've found that as team members evolve from being siloed individual specialists to understanding the full nature of completing a work item, the likelihood of major differences of opinion related to effort reduces so the cards can be put away.
With such teams, it is not uncommon to hear a team member say "Oh, that's a 5" and then one or two others will support that sizing. If there is any disagreement, they talk it out briefly.
Kiron
...
1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Dec 10, 2019 7:52 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
...
I have experienced the same. Other thing is critical to be successful with story point is not convert points to time. The time is determined by the sprint duration where the user stories are located. The worst thing people can do is converting points to time. Do not fall in the trap to convert points to time is achieved in environments as you describe.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 10, 2019 7:41 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Absolutely correct, Sergio!
I've found that as team members evolve from being siloed individual specialists to understanding the full nature of completing a work item, the likelihood of major differences of opinion related to effort reduces so the cards can be put away.
With such teams, it is not uncommon to hear a team member say "Oh, that's a 5" and then one or two others will support that sizing. If there is any disagreement, they talk it out briefly.
Kiron
I have experienced the same. Other thing is critical to be successful with story point is not convert points to time. The time is determined by the sprint duration where the user stories are located. The worst thing people can do is converting points to time. Do not fall in the trap to convert points to time is achieved in environments as you describe. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Agree with Sergio's point. It is important that distinction is made. There are other exercises available. In fact, I don't use it. Simply not an efficient mechanism for sizing work. Saving Changes...
Victor GinobaBusiness Analyst| HarmoniaDumfries, Va, United States
Dec 10, 2019 7:36 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
...
Just to comment something obvious: people can apply Fibonacci without using Planning Poker.
Hi Sergio,
Yes, this was a very obvious point. however, what other methods have you used to apply the Fibonacci sequence?
...
1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Dec 10, 2019 5:14 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
...
Planning Poker is not a method. Is just a technique with the aim to use a piece of paper with numbers where each number belongs to the Fibonacci series. So, you can use those numbers is the way you want or best fit for your current environment.
Currently not using it, but I have used 1,2,3,5,8. No zeroes (or 1/2 - we're not trying to make it about hours), and it correlates nicely to t-shirt sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL) which are easier to estimate for some people. Anything larger than 8 was too large and needed to be broken down into smaller pieces. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
The use of the Fibonacci numbers is helpful insofar as it provides you with orders of magnitude. The tricky part is what the number represents. If you use it for story points, you may find that one team's 13 story points is another team's 21 story points.
...
1 reply by Aaron Porter
Dec 10, 2019 10:41 AM
Aaron Porter
...
I don't find it that tricky if I'm not trying to compare sizing and velocity between teams. The goal is not to have teams aligned on sizing and velocity; these things are team specific and expected to vary between teams.
The use of the Fibonacci numbers is helpful insofar as it provides you with orders of magnitude. The tricky part is what the number represents. If you use it for story points, you may find that one team's 13 story points is another team's 21 story points.
I don't find it that tricky if I'm not trying to compare sizing and velocity between teams. The goal is not to have teams aligned on sizing and velocity; these things are team specific and expected to vary between teams.
...
1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Dec 10, 2019 11:30 AM
Stéphane Parent
...
This is fine, Aaron, when the teams are on different projects. My current project has ten Scrum teams. Without alignment, there is no way to calculate project backlog size or project velocity.
Community Champion
