Estimating – I love estimating.
Estimating is one of those tasks that really takes it out of the whole team, hours or even days of reviewing stories and estimating the effort is hard work.
The temptation is to crack on and keep going until the task is done however I can’t stress enough the importance of taking time away from this process to recharge and re-engage with the subject mater.
Some techniques for making the process less onerous (if thats possible):
Story Rotation
Often teams will follow a story list as it define by the BA, which in my opinion can lead to less informed estimates, having discussed the attributes of one story only to be presented with another similar story can often lead to dismissive estimations where in isolation the story may reveal more detail.
Take Breaks
Accept that a fresh mind is better at dealing with problems, taking a break is one of the most productive things you can do.
Give everyone a stage to express their opinion
So often the dev lead will take up most of the air space while more “junior” members of a team will sit nodding (or nodding off). Give your whole team a chance to engage in this process after all you will expect them to work in this project right?
Have Fun
Enjoy the process by making it fun! Use novel gestures for estimating or high five when you all agree, whatever it is you guys do that is fun, do it and do it more often, having a laugh will make the most onerous of tasks less so.
Estimating has to be one of the tasks i “enjoy” the least however, its value is without question.
