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.
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Dec 10, 2019 10:41 AM
Replying to Aaron Porter
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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.
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. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 10, 2019 9:15 AM
Replying to Victor Ginoba
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Hi Sergio,
Yes, this was a very obvious point. however, what other methods have you used to apply the Fibonacci sequence?
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.
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1 reply by Victor Ginoba
Dec 10, 2019 8:55 PM
Victor Ginoba
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Thanks for your comment, Sergio.
Saving Changes...
Victor GinobaBusiness Analyst| HarmoniaDumfries, Va, United States
Dec 10, 2019 5:14 PM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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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.
Thanks for your comment, Sergio. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
I like the Fibonacci sequence for the same reason so many people have used it- the increasing distance between the sizes.
I've used other popular forms of relative sizing, but when the units are too close together, teams waste time trying to distinguish between sizes that are similar. Should a work item be a 7 or an 8? What's the difference?
By using a scale that gradually increases, like Fibonacci, we eliminate a lot of this meaningless haggling, because there's a significant difference between an 8 and a 13, and an even bigger difference between a 13 and a 21, and so on.
(For what it's worth, my teams don't modify our scales because they're all math nerds.) Saving Changes...
Victor GinobaBusiness Analyst| HarmoniaDumfries, Va, United States
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Has anyone here had any experience specifically with planning poker to estimate user stories? If so, what are the pro and cons, takeaways, etc?
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2 replies by Kiron Bondale and Wade Harshman
Dec 12, 2019 11:43 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Victor -
I've used it extensively with different teams. It works well to introduce concepts of relative sizing, and helping the team get an appreciation of different perspectives, but if not facilitated well you can get into analysis-paralysis or a deadlock situation where there is a divergence of opinion within the team on a work item size and an unwillingness to make a decision.
BTW, Delphi can be utilized for other types of team decision making - for example, qualitatively assessing risk probability/impact.
There are also variants on this such as Delegation Poker (for determining perceptions of team-level authority) and Spotify's health check model (red/yellow/green) for different dimensions of team health.
Kiron
Dec 12, 2019 12:22 PM
Wade Harshman
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Planning Poker is a good tool to get quick story sizes and move along. More importantly, it's a tool to get your team talking. Because players reveal their cards simultaneously, they aren't as susceptible to following the leader. If team members give wildly different points, that's a good indicator that they don't have a shared understanding of the story. What seems like negotiation over story points is actually a conversation about the story until everyone involved has a shared understanding of what the user needs and how we'll get it done. If the team can't come to a shared understanding within a reasonable amount of time, then you need acknowledge that the story in question isn't ready.
Planning Poker certainly isn't the only technique that you can use, but those are some of the reasons why it's popular.
Has anyone here had any experience specifically with planning poker to estimate user stories? If so, what are the pro and cons, takeaways, etc?
Victor -
I've used it extensively with different teams. It works well to introduce concepts of relative sizing, and helping the team get an appreciation of different perspectives, but if not facilitated well you can get into analysis-paralysis or a deadlock situation where there is a divergence of opinion within the team on a work item size and an unwillingness to make a decision.
BTW, Delphi can be utilized for other types of team decision making - for example, qualitatively assessing risk probability/impact.
There are also variants on this such as Delegation Poker (for determining perceptions of team-level authority) and Spotify's health check model (red/yellow/green) for different dimensions of team health.
Kiron
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1 reply by Victor Ginoba
Dec 12, 2019 3:04 PM
Victor Ginoba
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Thanks, Kiron. Delegation poker, nice to know.
Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
Dec 12, 2019 9:43 AM
Replying to Victor Ginoba
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Thanks everyone for your comments.
Has anyone here had any experience specifically with planning poker to estimate user stories? If so, what are the pro and cons, takeaways, etc?
Planning Poker is a good tool to get quick story sizes and move along. More importantly, it's a tool to get your team talking. Because players reveal their cards simultaneously, they aren't as susceptible to following the leader. If team members give wildly different points, that's a good indicator that they don't have a shared understanding of the story. What seems like negotiation over story points is actually a conversation about the story until everyone involved has a shared understanding of what the user needs and how we'll get it done. If the team can't come to a shared understanding within a reasonable amount of time, then you need acknowledge that the story in question isn't ready.
Planning Poker certainly isn't the only technique that you can use, but those are some of the reasons why it's popular. Saving Changes...
Victor GinobaBusiness Analyst| HarmoniaDumfries, Va, United States
Dec 12, 2019 11:43 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Victor -
I've used it extensively with different teams. It works well to introduce concepts of relative sizing, and helping the team get an appreciation of different perspectives, but if not facilitated well you can get into analysis-paralysis or a deadlock situation where there is a divergence of opinion within the team on a work item size and an unwillingness to make a decision.
BTW, Delphi can be utilized for other types of team decision making - for example, qualitatively assessing risk probability/impact.
There are also variants on this such as Delegation Poker (for determining perceptions of team-level authority) and Spotify's health check model (red/yellow/green) for different dimensions of team health.
Kiron
Thanks, Kiron. Delegation poker, nice to know. Saving Changes...
