Sizing User Stories
Sizing user stories is an essential aspect of backlog management. Rather than focusing on the detailed time estimates, Scrum promotes the use of story points for estimating the relative effort required for developing each user story. Various techniques, such as t-shirt sizing (S, M, L, XL), Fibonacci series (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,...), or even the use of animals (mouse, cat, dog, horse, elephant), can be used but all aim to provide a relative comparison of effort between different user stories. This allows for a more effective and collaborative approach to understanding and estimating work.
Guide on Sizing User Stories for PSM-I
User stories are essential aspects of agile practices, they represent requirements or needs from the user's perspective and are particularly vital in Scrum.
What it is: 'Sizing user stories' is an agile practice of assessing and assigning an estimated effort or complexity to each user story. It doesn't directly translate to 'time', instead, it's about how complex or large a story is compared to others.
Importance: They help scrum teams to plan and prioritize work and help provide a clearer understanding of how much work can be done in a sprint. It also promotes healthy discussions among team members to gain shared understanding and alignment.
How it works: Several techniques can be used for sizing, including T-shirt sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL), Fibonacci sequence (1,2,3,5,8,13), or even dog breeds (Chihuahua to Great Dane). The team then discusses about each user story and reach a consensus on the sizing.
Exam Tips - Answering Questions on Sizing User Stories: Understand the concept and its purpose. Remember, it's relative estimation, not an absolute one. The focus isn't on 'how long' but on 'how complex'. Know the common techniques, and how Scrum team reaches a consensus. Additionally, keep in mind that these are estimations and are not final or fixed. They can be revisited and reassessed as the team gets more clarity.
Pay extra attention to questions on 'why' and 'how' user stories are sized - these are often tested in exams. Handling practical scenarios on this topic will also be common in PSM-I exam.
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