The are so many different ways to optimize your estimation meetings. From better managing how your team operate meetings to the quality of story point voting, all of these tweaks can have an impact on how you collaborate and manage estimation meetings.
Making sure you and the team seek out tips and techniques to better optimize these meetings can save you 10-15 minutes per week on estimation meetings, over a working year, that could be up to 8-10 hour saving across the year, just from optimizations from your estimation meetings.
1. Refine the Backlog
Development teams would benefit from maintaining their backlog items. Keeping on top of what is in the team's backlog can help improve sprint planning by ensuring that each ticket has the necessary information and meets the definition of ready. It's imperative that no ticket (unless it is an absolute must) is taken into a sprint planning session if it has not met the definition of ready.
Before heading into a sprint planning session, I've always found it extremely valuable to categorize the tickets that are heading into sprint planning. This can be done in most ticket management tools, such as Jira or monday.com, and doing it before each estimation session can make the difference between an organized session and a messy one.
2. Leverage Team Expertise
Your team might be made up of a combination of development backgrounds, and this is something to utilize; seniority, junior levels, and job history can prove helpful in embracing expertise. Asking team members questions like "Has anyone used X API before?" or "Who is the subject matter expert (SME) of X/Y?" can spark debate around a user story and dig deeper into the topic, drawing on insights from team members—utilize SMEs in your team and outside your team. Always be mindful of external dependencies when sizing tickets, as you might be dealing with other teams or external APIs, so be aware of the potential impact of these.
One thing to keep in mind as a scrum master is to not allow senior developers to dominate a task or task estimation based on their experience, remember that the estimation should be relative for the entire team, not just a senior developer.
3. Incorporate Buffer Time
Buffer time can be a savior if you're looking to be more effective during your sprint. As a software developer of many years, I've found that ego can sometimes play into estimations, e.g. giving a ticket a low score just because it gives off an impression of your uber coding skills, where in reality, that's selfish to the team. It makes more sense to incorporate buffer time on tickets so that you can do your best work, a sprint isn't a race if you estimate wisley.
Our feature consensus variability helps to showcase the varying opinion on story points and can allow you to see a potential buffer time to consider easily.
4. Time Box Estimation Sessions
Developing better systems for your team to focus on estimation sessions can help the team be more productive collectively. Setting fixed time limits for each estimation session will help keep discussions focused and make the process of refining story points smoother and more effective.
This can be done with a timer or a session time limit, and the more structured this is, the better your meeting outcomes will be, leading to more concise communication as a team.
Each scrumplanning.com session comes with an optional timer to use during sessions.
5. Use Consensus Voting
Consensus voting is a great way to ensure broad agreement within the team. While it doesn’t always mean unanimous support, it helps align the team and ensures most members are satisfied with the decision. scrumplanning.com provides detailed analytics for each round of voting, including the consensus, mode, median, and average. Lastly, while consensus doesn’t always reflect everyone’s agreement, it’s a valuable metric for saving time. For those whose votes fall outside the consensus, the team can provide additional context around the ticket to help them understand the decision.
6. Use Historical Data
Data is incredibly valuable for development teams, and that applies internally as well. Using historical data from past estimations or experiences can help you compare current user stories to past ones to establish the best scope and complexity. Not calling on these past activities can mean missing out on vital insights that will save your team time, not only on the user story but also on the communication around it.
Keeping a historic log of activities can help you to remember and come back to important learnings that can be brought into your next estimation. Our tool has a feature called TimeTravel that allows users to go between previous voting sessions and even re-open them as current tickets to reflection or renewal.
7. Crunch Large Story Points
An important aspect of planning is ensuring that reflection and foresight are applied to tickets that are likely to receive a high story point estimate. It's crucial to break these tickets down into smaller, more manageable tasks to improve clarity and make them easier to estimate, manage, and test. This not only streamlines the development process but also reduces the risk of bottlenecks and helps maintain consistent progress across the team.
As with anything relative, it's about what your team feels comfortable with. Is the team okay with going to just 8 before breaking down a ticket, or are 13s acceptable? Most of the teams I've worked with had an upper limit of 8 or 13. Generally speaking, we never went higher than this, but again, it comes down to your team and the comfort level of the team members.
8. Document Estimation Assumptions
Over the years of building software, I have always found it valuable to document the assumptions of tickets, and an easy way to do this is to simply comment on the ticket (yes, just quickly drop them on the ticket), whether in planning or before planning. This helps whoever picks up the ticket to see the documented assumptions (even if they were in the planning session, it's a nice reminder), and in future planning sessions, you can return to this ticket to review the assumptions if you have a similar ticket. This allows for more informed decision-making and a smoother workflow. Ultimately, it provides transparency and fosters openness within the team, preventing misunderstandings and ensuring the team is aligned in their approach.
9. Regular Calibration
Regular calibration is important for maintaining consistency and alignment within your team. I've worked in numerous roles where the technical lead would review tickets prior to planning to ensure the necessary information was on the ticket, and I've worked in teams where limited information was provided. What’s important is to routinely revisit and be willing to adjust estimations if needed. You want to eliminate as many discrepancies as possible that can arise over time, particularly as the scope of the project evolves, or new members join or leave the team.
If you have enough time within the week (we don't want to encourage more meetings), a calibration session provides a good opportunity for open dialogue within the team. This doesn't have to involve the entire team—perhaps just a few members who rotate routinely throughout the weeks. All of this will create context and improve accuracy when it comes to scrum planning.
10. Foster Open Discussion
A successful team is one that fosters open discussion, by promoting collaboration and innovation. Always remember that you're part of the team and that the team is a safe environment where all team members feel comfortable to share their insights. If you are running a meeting, it's good to try encourage everyone to be involved within the discussion—do not let just one or two voices dominate the meeting.
Lastly, something that has consistently worked well throughout my technical career is making sure that everyone in the team feels equal. Once the meeting starts, rank and seniority are left at the door—or outside the virtual room on Teams or Zoom. I found doing this fosters a more open, collaborative environment where every voice is heard and valued, regardless of position (if you know me...you will know I think job titles are silly).
Happy Scrum Planning!
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it! Have tips for scrum planning? Reach out, and we'll try to include them! 👋