Estimation
Software development teams rely on estimates to plan, prioritize, and deliver work. Two common metrics used are story points and hours. Story points provide a relative measure of effort and complexity for product backlog items. Hours represent the actual development time spent implementing those items. Using both together, but for different purposes, helps strike the…
Why Precision and Agility Matter Software estimation seeks to balance the precision of predicting required effort and cost with the agility to adapt to changing requirements. Underestimating stories leads to cost overruns, schedule slips, technical debt, and team burnout. Overestimating causes excessive padding, wasted capacity, and reduced business agility. Agile teams need enough precision to…
Defining Story Points Story points are a unit of measure used by agile software development teams to estimate the overall effort required to fully implement a user story. They provide a relative estimate of difficulty rather than an absolute measure of time. Some key attributes of story points include: Allow teams to gauge effort and…
Rethinking Estimates in Agile Development As organizations adopt agile practices, they often struggle to break free from detailed upfront planning and estimates in hours. Legacy approaches anchor teams to outdated assumptions and plans, reducing the adaptability essential for agility. This article examines the pitfalls of estimating in hours for agile development and offers techniques to…
The practice of converting story points to hours is a common technique employed by those new to agile methodologies in an attempt to grasp the underlying concepts. However, this conversion can undermine the core principles of agile and set inaccurate expectations that are bound to cause problems down the road. By exploring the motivations behind…
The Flaws of Time Estimates in Agile Time estimates have been a central part of software development methodologies for decades. Traditional waterfall projects place heavy emphasis on upfront time and cost estimates as the basis for projects plans, budgets, and contracts. The rationale is that with detailed requirements and design completed early, developers should be…
Technical debt refers to the implied cost of additional work caused by choosing an easy software solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer. As teams take shortcuts to deliver features quickly, technical debt accumulates in the code base. Left unchecked, this growing burden increasingly slows velocity by making changes more…
What is Velocity in Agile Scrum Velocity in Agile scrum methodologies refers to the amount of work a scrum team can handle in a single sprint iteration. It is calculated by summing the story point values for all fully completed user stories in an iteration. Velocity provides insight into the rate at which a team…
Streamlining the Research Process with Exploration Limits Research projects often struggle to balance open-ended discovery with timely delivery of results. Unconstrained exploration risks going down tangential paths, while overly rigid schedules can hamper serendipitous findings. This article examines how judicious “timeboxing” of research activities can optimize the iteration between generating insights and conveying value. Pinpointing…
Defining Overhead Overhead in software development refers to any activity or cost that is necessary to run a project but does not directly produce code or system functionality. Common sources of overhead include meetings, planning, coordination, documentation, testing, integration, releases, infrastructure maintenance, and general management. While essential, overhead consumes time and resources that could otherwise…
