An agile team uses planning poker to estimate user stories. After all team members read a user story, the facilitator asks everyone to select and reveal a card with an estimated number of ideal days that a team member thinks it will take them to complete the user story. If estimates are widely different, the facilitator would immediately ask for re-estimates until all the estimates converge.
What did the facilitator do wrong?
A. Request estimation to be in ideal days instead of real days as the unit for the estimates.
B. Requested to re-estimate immediately after everyone revealed their cards.
C. Requested the cards to be revealed when the process should have been anonymous.
D. The facilitator did nothing wrong and played by the rules.
HINT: A discussion of estimates is an important part of the planning poker game.
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Answer and explanation:
The correct answer is B.
Planning poker is a method through which a team can come up with reliable and reasonable estimates easily and quickly. The process is as described in the question, but at the end of each reveal, if the estimates are widely different, the group can (and should) actively discuss the user story to clarify their understanding. Those people with relatively high or low estimates are given the opportunity to provide arguments to support their estimates. The conversation and discussion is a critical part of the exercise since a team member is allowed to influence others in their re-estimates so that the final estimate will be as accurate as possible and reflect the opinion of all participants.
Details for each option:
A. Incorrect. The team can agree to use ideal days, story points, or any other valid units as the basis for the estimate. There is nothing wrong in using ideal days.
B. Correct. By immediately re-estimating, the team members do not have a chance to discuss how and why they chose those estimates, which may influence the re-estimate. The result will be more accurate if the team members provide reasoning behind their estimates.
C. Incorrect. In planning poker, participants initially keep their estimates private, but later share and get to see each other's estimates during the reveal.
D. Incorrect. By requesting an immediate re-estimating, the facilitator pushed the team to converge their estimates without giving the team members an opportunity to discuss the user story and explain their estimates.
Reference: Agile Estimating and Planning, Mike Cohn, 2005, Planning Poker
