Estimating With Story Points

If so many people struggle to estimate with story points - should we just abandon them? No. This module explains why it’s important to use story points, why time doesn’t work, and why we can get better at estimating.

This module helps you understand (and explain) exactly what story points are.

You’ll be introduced to estimating sequences such as Fibonacci and powers of two, and why those are good sequences. You’ll also see in detail how to get the team to understand exactly what type of estimate you’re going to create.

Once your team understands story points - you need to create your estimates. In this module, you’ll discover how to establish a baseline so that everyone knows what a 3 point, or an 8 point story looks like.

You’ll walk through estimating processes in detail, including Planning Poker® and affinity estimation. I’ll also explain when you should estimate, who should take part in estimating and when (if ever) you should re-estimate a story once work has started.

See how to avoid common mistakes that can make teams quit before they ever see success with story points. I’ll explain how to use triangulating to prevent anchoring and biased estimates.

You’ll learn coaching techniques to handle someone who refuses to budge on an estimate, and I’ll also share 5 ways to get better estimates, and 4 things to avoid when estimating.

How you talk to your team about story points can make all the difference. Whether your team is resistant to using them, or has been using them incorrectly, this module shows you how to have those conversations in a way that makes teams more receptive to using story points (in the right way).

You’ll also get a presentation that you can use to train your teams, making it easy to coach them from good to great. 

Understand problems of using non-additive scales, know how to tell if you’re estimating too much (or not enough) of the product backlog, how to avoid estimate inflation, and whether or not bugs should have story points assigned.

You need a different conversation to explain story points to stakeholders. Register now and get access to a bonus module that includes what stakeholders need to know about points.

This includes why they can’t use person days, and why you can’t measure productivity or compare teams with points. You’ll also see how to predict date and cost using velocity.

Now that you understand story points and can explain them to teams and stakeholders—what do you need to know about planning before you use them? In this extra module you’ll get 6 brand-new lessons that explain: 

• The components of a plan
• Estimating what you don’t know
• Estimating velocity as a range
• Estimating velocity without data
• An introduction to fixed-date plans
• An introduction to fixed-scope plans

In the final module you’ll see an overview of the key lessons you’ve learned, with advice on where to go from here. Whether you’re about to start a new project, or are midway through delivery, you can apply what you’ve learned straight away.