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How Agile Estimation Techniques Help Workload Management

   John Doe      May 30th, 2021

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Two questions that we generally hear from agencies are:

How can we handle the workload of the project?

How can we make an estimation of how much work can we do in a sprint?

As some teams are planning the velocity of the sprint. (This we have generally heard a lot in software in specific mobile web development). Now you may call it whatever you may feel like. 

You must ensure that you check the time allocated to you to complete the task. Most importantly, you must check the historical data. The estimation of story points is used nowadays to process agile projects. You as a business owner can opt for planning poker, bucket system, dot system, affinity mapping, etc. 

Planning the Velocity of the Team

If you have a team of marketers who are sticky and work in sprints, then you would have encountered data points. These data points are essential to analyze and are termed as “velocity”. 

Now, you would be thinking what is velocity?

It is the historical rate of work completion of your team. Your team must have completed the entire work to earn the credit of velocity. 

Let us understand this simply by checking the graph

In this chart, the team completes the task between 2 and 4 points for each sprint. It will give a short-term plan to the team of how little work is way too much.  If the team establishes 10 points of operation. Then it is more likely that they will finish the entire work.

Hence, a short-term metric plan is always better. This will give you a clear idea of the team to decide how much work they can commit. This will be more realistic and will be assessed as per the historical data. Hence, you can save ample time by not wasting on wild guesses and proving yourself wrong.

Prepare a chart

Make sure you develop a burnt-down chart. This will give you a detailed insight into how much is completed vs how much buffer time you have left for the implementation. Now, the main reason for constructing this chart is to find the progress rate of the agile team. It will highlight whether the team is at the right pace or not.

It will also uncover remaining effort, remaining tasks, and ideal burndown. Check the image below:-

Below mentioned are some of the common techniques of agile estimation:-

#1 Planning poker

This can be applied to small products/ projects. It will assure you of quick buy-ins and thus will be unanimous. You must assign each team member with specific numbered cards. 

Further, anonymously set the estimate. Now in this case discussions are a must until you reach a consensus.

Note:- This proposal is best for 10 or shorter exercises. You can create a team of up to 8 members for this. 

#2 Grouping the affinities

This agile estimation exercises better outcomes when you have team members with similar group products/projects. If you see the efforts and scope of the members relatable then check the next step.

Now, you position them collectively until you get a clear array of factions. 

You can utilize the values as you do in other techniques such as Fibonacci sequencing. Hence, you can execute groups in a much broader way. 

#3 Bucket listing

This technique is similar to planning poker. The main aim here is to achieve consensus. It can be done via discussion and by designating the value for every task. The facilitator can initiate with one task. 

They can set the tasks further in the middle and continue to place and read the tasks. This will be relatively similar to one and they can do it by placing the tasks in buckets.

Again, here the discussion is the key root. This will ensure that everyone is cordial before you set the final estimation. Here, you will notice that the tasks are distributed evenly. 

#4 Dot voting

This technique is best to identify the ranking method. Here you can decide about the order of the project/ product backlog. Now you can place this from lowest to highest priority stories. It is best to figure and select the most essential story. 

To initiate, firstly post the stories of the user with the description. Make sure you use a board or wall using the stickers. You can choose a yellow sticker.

Now you might already be thinking what is the purpose in doing so? Well, this will distinguish who receives the votes.

Next, you should give 4-5 dots to the stakeholder. You can employ any form. It can be markers, stickers, or pens. These materials can be utilized to make dots. Later, the stakeholders place their vote according to their preference. 

The owner of the product will order the product from the item of the backlog. These will be distributed as the extremely preferred as well as the slightest preferred products. This case may arise when the stakeholder is not happy about the order that is decided.

Hence, you can divide the stories of users into three groups after having a discussion. You must post the stories of high priority. You can exercise this until you achieve all the stakeholder agreements.  

Calculating the budget

One of the best ways to manage the workload is to calculate the budget you want to enforce. This will keep you and your team secure and save you from stress related to finance. 

You can make the estimation using a bucket system, planning poker, Fibonacci series, etc. Ensure that you regulate the timespan of the iterations. This step is called sprints. 

Do not miss the additional costs that are required to finish the specific project. Now it includes the purchase of equipment, software tools, getting a license, support, etc. Keep a close check on the hidden risks. These risks can be the absence of a specific team member, deadlines, etc. 

Final Note

Estimation plays a huge role in any agile project. As mentioned earlier it mainly happens in software or platform development.

Hence, if you are planning to develop software or platform development such as Android or iOS app development. Make sure you get in touch with established agencies. They will implement necessary steps that can make your platform or software futuristic. 

Author’s bio

The author is an iOS app developer and marketer at MobileCoderz,  the leading iPhone app development company. He has helped many start-ups to establish their business via mobile apps. He ensures to develop an iOS app by sticking to the guidelines of the app store. In his free time, he loves to spend time with his family and friends.