#60 – NoEstimates

Authors’ Comments:

There are many reasons for estimating a PBI, such as the estimate being a parameter influencing the ordering of the PBI (as the Scrum Guide states) or for securing the right amount of funding. However, blatantly put, estimation is not really a value-adding activity and can put unnecessary pressure on the team for staying within the original estimate.  

Even if you as a Scrum team decide to fully eliminate estimations, your PO would probably want some sort of outlook on how much the team can deliver. This is typically because the PO needs to align with stakeholders, customers and sponsors on the product roadmap because of them having to plan sales activities, marketing material, contracts, etc. 

One way of providing the PO with this outlook without estimating everything is to look at the number of User Stories (and not Story Points) that the team can deliver. For this to work, it’s important that the stories are approximately the same size, so the team spends close to the same time on each story. As a Scrum team matures, they will potentially become better at slicing stories consistently while still focusing on its value-add. A bonus of this practice is that Cumulative Flow Diagrams will also be more accurate.