We've ended up with non-linear weighing of our points. I worry this makes reporting velocity data erroneous. Background:
- A fairly traditional deck is used:
?, 0, ½, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100, and ∞
- Only the low end of the scale is ever used for story estimates, we rarely go over 5 points and only had one thirteen-pointer.
The point value is inconsistent across stories of different size. That is, one-pointers use "lighter" points and eight-pointers use "heavier" points:
1p
: add tooltip text to a couple of icons; format date&time strings3p
: create new user role and specify their permissions; automatically create a new case in CRM whenever certain actions are performed5p
: watchlist functionality; filtering functionality on several facets8p
: integrate with a third party provider and introduce a persistence layer to cache their responses
In a textbook scrum 1x 8p
and 8x 1p
should require same effort, in fact this is exactly what I'm trying to achieve! However in our estimate examples provided, "integrating with a third party" is a lot more difficult than "adding a tooltip... 8 times". So in our sprint planning 1x 8p ≠ 8x 1p
.
How can our team break the "anchoring" to this estimating practice? What's the best way to flag up and approach this concern?
in sprint planning 1x 8p story is not the same as 8x 1p stories.
In terms of efforts, both would require the same efforts to complete.1x 8p ≠ 8x 1p
. I agree that in a textbook scrum they should require same effort, in fact this is exactly what I'm trying to achieve! However in our estimate examples provided, "integrating with a third party" is a lot more difficult than "adding 8 tooltips". Any suggestions how I can phrase it to make it more clear?I agree that in a textbook scrum they should require same effort, in fact this is exactly what I'm trying to achieve! However in our estimate examples provided, "integrating with a third party" is a lot more difficult than "adding 8 tooltips"
1x 8p ≠ 8x 1p
, I guess the team should revisit its estimation. Maybe you are giving high estimates to the smaller stories, for example, adding 8 tooltips should be estimated to be 1 story point on the whole.