Guide to Estimation and Velocity in Sprint Planning and Monitoring

Estimation and velocity are integral parts of sprint planning and monitoring in Scrum practices.

Why it is important: Estimation and velocity provide a quantitative way to plan, track, and forecast the work that can be done in a sprint. It helps teams to gauge their capacity, manage their work efficiently, and set realistic commitments.

What it is: 'Estimation' is an educated guess of the amount of effort required to complete a user story or a task. It is usually measured in story points or hours. 'Velocity' refers to the amount of work a team can tackle during a single sprint and is defined as the average number of story points completed in a sprint.

How it works: In sprint planning, the team estimates the effort for each user story and calculates the total effort for the sprint backlog. The team's velocity is then used to predict how much of the backlog they can deliver in the sprint. During the sprint, the team monitors their actual velocity and adjusts their plan if necessary.

Answering Questions on Estimation and Velocity: For an exam, understanding Estimation and Velocity concepts are crucial. You should be able to explain their definitions, purposes, and how they work. Also, be able to calculate Velocity and use it for future sprint planning.

Exam Tips: Familiarize yourself with the formats of how questions on these topics could be asked. Practice numerically based questions to accurately calculate velocity. Understand the real-world application of these concepts, as scenario-based questions are common.