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Relative Sizing/Story Points

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In Agile EVM, relative sizing or story points is a method used to estimate the effort required to complete user stories. The team assigns values known as 'story points' to each user story, reflecting the anticipated effort needed. The accumulated total of these estimates gives insight into the total effort required to deliver the project. In Agile EVM, this information is used to create the budget baseline using the expected value of each story or feature, this allows for financial tracking of the project.

Guide on Relative Sizing/Story Points

What is Relative Sizing/Story Points:
Relative sizing/story points is a unit of measurement used in Agile project management and development. It is typically used to estimate effort or relative size of tasks in software development. The system helps offer a rough estimate of how difficult a task is based on its complexity, uncertainty and risk, not the expected duration.

Why it's important:
Relative sizing/story points allow the development team to provide estimates without getting locked into time-based measures, and offer more flexibility and accuracy in scoping work. It also allows the team to track progress over time and adjust plans or expectations as needed.

How it works:
The team starts with a story they feel comfortable estimating, this is often assigned a value such as one or two story points. The team then compares other user stories to the baseline and assigns them story point values based on their relative size. The process is subjective and relies on the team's experience.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Relative Sizing/Story Points:
When answering questions on relative sizing/story points on the PMI-ACP exam, remember the following:
1. Story points are associated with the level of effort, complexity, and risk of a task, not the duration.
2. A lower story point number indicates less complexity and effort, while a higher number denotes more complexity and therefore more effort and risk.
3. The ideal baseline is selecting a simple and small task as a 'one story point' example for comparisons.
4. Be prepared to conduct relative comparisons to answer questions about assigning story point estimates to various tasks.

Through understanding these foundations, you’ll have the knowledge to size and estimate your project tasks efficiently and accurately.

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PMI-ACP - Agile EVM (Earned Value Management) Example Questions

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Question 1

Your team is estimating the relative size of their future sprints based on a product backlog. What is the most accurate approach for determining the story points?

Correct Answer: Comparing each story to other stories and assigning points based on complexity and effort.

The most accurate approach for assigning story points in Agile Methodologies is by comparing each story to other stories and assigning points based on complexity and effort. This is the method recommended by Scrum and other Agile frameworks, recognized as relative estimation. Here, team members analyze each story by itself, its complexity, risks involved and efforts to complete. It's relative because it's based on the comparison of one story to another, not on precise measure like time. Assigning points based on the time it will take to complete misrepresents the complexity and risks involved in the story, making it an inaccurate estimation. Giving each story the same number of points regardless of complexity or size doesn't consider the variability and differences among user stories. Assigning points merely based on the priority of each story in the product backlog does not consider the actual effort needed to realize each story, thus not a reliable approach for determining the story points.

Question 2

The team is facing a problem with their current story points calculation. It is affecting the velocity calculation. What is the best approach to solve this issue?

Correct Answer: Review the way the team is calculating story points and adjust it as necessary to ensure consistency and accuracy.

The best approach if a team is facing a problem with their current story point calculation affecting their velocity calculation is to 'Review the way the team is calculating story points and adjust it as necessary to ensure consistency and accuracy.' Story points are an estimation of the effort required to complete a task, and if calculated inconsistently, will lead to inaccurate velocity. Adjusting the method of calculation to ensure better accuracy and consistency will result in a more accurate measure of velocity, thereby improving project planning and execution. The other answers suggest to ignore the story point completely, artificially increase velocity or decrease story point for all future stories. These approaches can cause serious project planning issues and not address the root cause of the problem. Consequently, they are not recommended.

Question 3

A member has suggested a complex story at 21 points where your team hardly goes beyond 13 while estimating a user story. Being an Agile coach, your best strategy is?

Correct Answer: Facilitate a detailed discussion about the complexities of the story and why the member thinks it's a 21 and then guide the team towards a consensus.

In agile practice, every team member's estimation is essential since it's a team-based approach. The first answer reflects the adoption of 'collaborative decision making,' which is an integral part of Agile. It suggests facilitating a detailed discussion about the complexities of the story and why the member thinks it's a 21, then guiding the team towards a consensus. That's the most appropriate approach- it's not about denying or accepting suggestions upfront, but about discussing, understanding the complexities, and then coming to a team consensus. The other two answers - 'Immediately discard the suggestion as it's way beyond what the team usually estimates' or 'Tell the member that they are wrong and their story can't be a 21' contradict the Agile values as they do not promote a collaborative approach, rather these responses are dictatorial. The last answer 'Ask other members to give their points without considering the 21 point suggestion', although sounds democratic, it's also not ideal because it makes the member's suggestion feel ignored which is against Agile spirit.

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