About Estimation and Story Point Sizing

Written By Allison Pollard

Photo by Daniel Mogford

I was talking with some peers recently about story points and estimation.  It's a subject that confuses many people who are new to agile, and many trainers and agile coaches don't agree on what a story point represents, when backlog items should be sized, or if estimation should be done at all.  To help Scrum Masters and agile coaches who might be struggling with the topic, I collected a few articles on the subject to help you get going:

It's not a topic that I am especially passionate about, but it is one that Scrum Masters and agile coaches should be familiar with to help teams and organizations.

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is a coach, consultant, and trainer who brings the power of relationship systems intelligence to go beyond tasks, roles, and frameworks to create energy for change. She engages with people and teams in a down-to-earth way to build trust and listen for signals to help them learn more and improve. Allison focuses on creating alignment and connection for people to solve business problems together. Her experience includes working with teams and leaders in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries to help improve their project/product delivery and culture. Allison currently volunteers as program director for Women in Agile’s mentorship program. Her agile community focus is championing new voices and amplifying women as mentors and sponsors for the next generation of leaders. Allison earned her bachelor’s degrees in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), a foodie, and proud glasses wearer. Allison is a prolific speaker at professional groups and international conferences, including Scrum Gatherings and the Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. Allison is co-owner of Helping Improve LLC.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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