How do you estimate agile releases?

1 What is an agile release?

An agile release is a set of features or user stories that are delivered to the customers or users at the end of a sprint or iteration. An agile release can also be a milestone or a goal that the team wants to achieve within a specific time frame. An agile release is not a fixed or rigid plan, but a flexible and adaptive one that can change based on feedback, learning, and changing requirements.

2 Why estimate agile releases?

Estimating agile releases helps the team and the stakeholders to align on the scope, quality, and timeline of the project. This process also assists the team in managing their capacity and resources, identifying dependencies and risks, tracking their progress and performance, adjusting their plan and priorities as needed, and demonstrating their value and impact.

3 How to estimate agile releases?

When estimating agile releases, there are several common principles and steps to consider. Define the release goal and vision, breaking it down into smaller chunks such as user stories, epics, or features. Estimate the size and complexity of each chunk using relative units like story points or T-shirt sizes. Prioritize the chunks based on their value and urgency, using a prioritization framework like MoSCoW or Kano. Finally, calculate the release duration and date by using the team's velocity and adding some buffer or contingency time. When communicating the release date, it is best to provide a range or confidence level rather than a fixed date.

4 How to improve your agile release estimates?

Estimating agile releases is an ongoing and learning process that requires feedback, collaboration, and adaptation. To improve your estimates, involve the whole team and stakeholders in the process, using techniques such as planning poker or dot voting. Additionally, seek input and feedback from customers and users. Regularly review and refine your estimates through retrospectives, demos, or reviews. Identify any gaps, errors, or assumptions that affected your estimates and learn from them. Furthermore, use multiple sources and perspectives to validate your estimates by leveraging data, metrics, or benchmarks. Use scenarios, simulations, or experiments to test your estimates and explore their implications. Finally, use different methods or tools to cross-check your estimates and find the best fit.

5 What are the benefits and challenges of estimating agile releases?

Estimating agile releases can bring many benefits and challenges for the team and the project, such as increasing transparency and visibility, enhancing collaboration and alignment, improving quality and value of deliverables, and supporting decision making and risk management. However, it can be time-consuming and difficult to estimate accurately and consistently, influenced by biases, assumptions, or uncertainties, create unrealistic expectations or commitments, and limit creativity and innovation of the team.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?