Back to Agile Estimation Techniques

Proportional Estimating

5 minutes 5 Questions

Proportional estimating is an Agile estimation technique which compares features or functionalities of a project in terms of size or complexity, to provide the relative estimate. Often this technique can be faster than other methods as it requires less granularity. However, it also assumes that the…

Test mode:
Start practice test
PMI-ACP - Proportional Estimating Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Proportional Estimating

Question 1

You are functioning as a Scrum Master. A task is estimated to require 18 hours. A different task perceived to be 35% less complex is added. Deploying Proportional Estimating, what should be the estimation for the newly added task?

Correct Answer: 11.7 hours

As a Scrum Master, you often have to estimate tasks. Let's use Proportional Estimating, which is a technique commonly used in project management for making estimates. Here, since the first task was estimated to require 18 hours and a new task is perceived to be 35% less complex, we can use this percentage to estimate the time for the new task. If you calculate 35% of 18 hours, you get 6.3 hours. Subtract this from the initial 18 hours to estimate the time for the new task. The result is 11.7 hours. Therefore, the estimation for the new task would be 11.7 hours. The answer '12 hours' errs on rounding it to the nearest whole number, '10 hours' significantly underestimates the task, and '9 hours' reduces the time by almost half, which is not aligned with the 35% less complexity estimation.

Question 2

As a Scrum Master, you've estimated a task to take 5 hours to complete. A new task that's half less complex is added to the backlog. Using Proportional Estimating, how long do you predict the new task will take?

Correct Answer: 2.5 hours

The Scrum Master estimated the original task to take 5 hours to complete. A new task is added which is half as complex as the original task. Based on the concept of Proportional Estimating in PMI Agile methodology, the time taken for tasks is proportional to their complexity. So, if the new task is half as complex as the original, its estimated completion time will also be half. Therefore, the new task will take half of 5 hours to complete, which is 2.5 hours. The options 3 hours, 1.5 hours and 2 hours are incorrect. 3 hours would not be half the time of the original 5-hour task. 1.5 hours and 2 hours would also not meet the criteria of the task being half as complex, and therefore taking half the time, of the original task.

Question 3

As the product owner in a project, a task estimated to take 8 days is added to the backlog. Another task is believed to be 50% less complex than the previous task. Using Proportional Estimating, what's your estimate on how long the new task will take?

Correct Answer: 4 days

Using Proportional Estimating, if a task is estimated to take 8 days and another task is estimated to be 50% less complex than the first task, it is inferred that this new task will take 50% less time than the first task. Therefore, the new task will take 50% less than 8 days, which is 4 days. The other options - 3 days, 5 days, and 6 days, are not accurate because they don't represent 50% of the original 8-day estimation.

More Proportional Estimating questions
10 questions (total)
Start 10 question test