Description
The Team Estimating Game (sometimes called the Fibonacci Team Estimating Game) is an agile estimation technique that establishes relative sizing using story points and a rough order of magnitude estimation. Planning Poker is a similar technique that uses playing cards to depict story points.
This agile technique tries to solve the estimation problem by using an estimating game to size backlog items relative to one another. The relative size of a backlog item is intentionally disconnected from effort in hours to encourage the team to think in a different way. “Roughly right” versus “accurately wrong” is the ultimate goal of the team estimation game.
The scrum team, working with a scrum master and product owner, sizes each epic or user story as part of product backlog grooming or sprint planning. The product owner’s role is typically informational only, as they are not involved in the building of the actual product.
Typical Roles
Agile Team
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Desired Behaviors
- 1.
Use cards or sticky notes with user stories that are placed on a board.
- 2.
The game consists of three rounds of collaborative sizing negotiation by the agile team.
- 3.
To begin the game, a single story is pulled off the backlog and placed in the middle of the board.
- 4.
During each round, stories are taken off the backlog and placed on the board in a location that is either larger (to the right) or smaller (to the left) than the stories that are already on the board. Each team member is allowed to change the location of one of story, as long as they can logically explain the reason for the change. They may choose to either place a new story, or move an existing story, but not both.
- 5.
After each round, the team discusses the sequence of stories on the board, with each team member offering advice based on their area of expertise.
- 6.
Once relative sizing is determined, numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are drawn on the board, and stories are moved to the left or right under the appropriate number based on the team’s understanding of the complexity and risk of the story. The basic order of the stories cannot be changed.
- 7.
Always use the Fibonacci sequence, as this is the recommended unit of measure for relative story-point sizing.