An agile team has worked together on previous projects. In the team's last project, the greatest negative criticism was the inaccuracy of the estimates.
When preparing estimates for a new project, what should an agile practitioner recommend that the team members do differently?
A. Deliberate extensively to completely eliminate uncertainty from the estimate.
B. Fine tune approach but do not put too much effort to gain the maximum benefit from estimating.
C. Lock down the budget, schedule, and scope to improve the accuracy.
D. One team member should take primary responsibility for owning the estimate.
HINT: Remember, in agile planning, progressive elaboration is used.
Stop by at
free.pm-exam-simulator.com/
and try the PMI-ACP® Exam Simulator™ free for 7 days. We are a trusted and experienced education provider.
Answer and Explanation:
The correct answer is B.
While creating estimates, at some point, adding more effort does not yield much improvement in the accuracy of estimates. In other words, there are diminishing returns to time spent estimating.
Agile teams should try to expend some minimal effort to gain the benefits of estimating, but should not 'over' plan or estimate as accuracy diminishes. The teams cannot ever eliminate uncertainty or change on the project.
The team owns the estimates. They should manage these estimates through the agile processes and artifacts, such as sprint planning, backlog grooming, etc.
Details for each option:
A. Incorrect. The team cannot ever eliminate uncertainty completely from the estimate.
B. Correct. With estimating, there is a point of diminishing returns, where additional effort put into estimation yields a minimal improvement in accuracy. Therefore, the team can fine-tune, but should not put in too much time or effort in estimating.
C. Incorrect. This is an agile project. While the budget and the schedule on an agile project are typically fixed, it is unlikely that the scope is "locked" down at this early planning stage, nor is it likely that the scope will be "locked" down throughout the project.
D. Incorrect. The estimates are shared and are not "owned" by a single person.
Reference: Agile Practice Guide - First Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017,
5.2.6 PLANNING FOR ITERATION-BASED AGILE
Agile Estimating and Planning, Mike Cohn, 2005, Diminishing returns on estimating
