Planning Poker: how to make the task setting process as transparent and clear as possible
In the last post we talked about how we work with backlog , and today we will share the details of the planning process, which in our case is not only useful, but also fascinating, since we carry out the assessment of tasks using Planning Poker.
Planning is a regular team discussion process for each task. We hold it once every 2 days, and only members of the engineering team and those who assign them the task participate in it.
For planning, we collect all participants in the conference in person or remotely.
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The customer (task director - product manager, marketer, or even CEO) must attend planning to explain the essence of the task, tell how he understands it, convey to the team why the task is important and motivate the executors. The goal of the engineering team is to find out the maximum amount of details through extra questions, extract hidden requirements from the customer, offer their implementation ideas and work out the best solution. Or explain why the task should be postponed for some time or not taken to work at all.
The customer reads out his task (this is always done strictly by the customer in order to avoid a “broken phone” during data transfer and speeding up the decision-making process), explains exactly what needs to be done and why it is important.
The goal of each member of the team of performers , asking various questions to the customer and team members, is to find out exactly what needs to be done and to understand how best to solve the problem. Then the singer explains exactly what he plans to do, and clarifies whether the customer and the team will suit this option. All participants speak in turn, and after everyone has decided on the best solution, the stage of assessing the complexity of the problem begins.
Estimation of complexity is made with the help of digital cards - this is the so-called Planning Poker: all members of the team of performers must, in private, assess the complexity of the task in work days, i.e. how many working days (at the rate of standard 8 hours) it is necessary specifically for him (the participant) to complete the task. After all the performers put the cards face down, everyone must turn their cards so that the numbers are visible to all participants in the process.
Artists with borderline scores (i.e., participants who gave the lowest and highest time marks) should explain their choices. On the one hand, the pressure of the team will not allow the participants to give an inadequately overestimated time limit, on the other hand, the team gets the opportunity to discuss possible problems on the task. The one who put the lowest estimate in time, shares with the team exactly how he plans to complete the task so quickly. The participant who gave the highest rating should tell about the risks and difficulties he foresees when performing this task. After a second discussion taking into account all the pitfalls, the team makes a decision on which assessment is more appropriate for the task. This period is recorded in a card with a description of the task in the task manager.
If one participant assesses the task at ½ day and the other at 3 days, they clearly conceived of performing the task differently, and therefore should coordinate their actions and explain why they should be done exactly as they think. Sometimes the difference in assessment can be due to different experiences in solving similar problems, in this case the maximum assessment is taken, but if the period differs by more than 1 day, then the task is performed in pair programming, when the one who appreciates in the smaller direction, controls who rated in great.
It is necessary to strive so that the complexity of the task does not exceed 1 day.
Planning is best done in such a way that the team always has a supply of tasks for 1-2 days, but no more. So all participants will remember well all the details of the discussion of each specific task. If the task is in the queue for execution for more than 4 days, it must be brought up for discussion so that the team remembers what and how it should be done on the task.
If the task is performed for 2 days longer than planned, it needs to be re-planned and discussed with the team and the customer all the difficulties and problems encountered in the course of implementation, so that the next time they are taken into account in the assessment.
The format of “Planning Poker” is well accustomed to the work of our teams: developers, analysts, administrators, and allows you to better understand the tasks and their solutions at the stage of setting.
How do you discuss tasks and assess the complexity and time to complete them? Share your experiences in the comments!
How and why do we carry out planning
Planning is a regular team discussion process for each task. We hold it once every 2 days, and only members of the engineering team and those who assign them the task participate in it.
For planning, we collect all participants in the conference in person or remotely.
')
The customer (task director - product manager, marketer, or even CEO) must attend planning to explain the essence of the task, tell how he understands it, convey to the team why the task is important and motivate the executors. The goal of the engineering team is to find out the maximum amount of details through extra questions, extract hidden requirements from the customer, offer their implementation ideas and work out the best solution. Or explain why the task should be postponed for some time or not taken to work at all.
Formulation of the problem
The customer reads out his task (this is always done strictly by the customer in order to avoid a “broken phone” during data transfer and speeding up the decision-making process), explains exactly what needs to be done and why it is important.
The goal of each member of the team of performers , asking various questions to the customer and team members, is to find out exactly what needs to be done and to understand how best to solve the problem. Then the singer explains exactly what he plans to do, and clarifies whether the customer and the team will suit this option. All participants speak in turn, and after everyone has decided on the best solution, the stage of assessing the complexity of the problem begins.
Complexity assessment
Estimation of complexity is made with the help of digital cards - this is the so-called Planning Poker: all members of the team of performers must, in private, assess the complexity of the task in work days, i.e. how many working days (at the rate of standard 8 hours) it is necessary specifically for him (the participant) to complete the task. After all the performers put the cards face down, everyone must turn their cards so that the numbers are visible to all participants in the process.
Artists with borderline scores (i.e., participants who gave the lowest and highest time marks) should explain their choices. On the one hand, the pressure of the team will not allow the participants to give an inadequately overestimated time limit, on the other hand, the team gets the opportunity to discuss possible problems on the task. The one who put the lowest estimate in time, shares with the team exactly how he plans to complete the task so quickly. The participant who gave the highest rating should tell about the risks and difficulties he foresees when performing this task. After a second discussion taking into account all the pitfalls, the team makes a decision on which assessment is more appropriate for the task. This period is recorded in a card with a description of the task in the task manager.
The main purpose of the assessment of complexity is not to predict when the task will be ready, but to make sure that all participants equally understand the task.
If one participant assesses the task at ½ day and the other at 3 days, they clearly conceived of performing the task differently, and therefore should coordinate their actions and explain why they should be done exactly as they think. Sometimes the difference in assessment can be due to different experiences in solving similar problems, in this case the maximum assessment is taken, but if the period differs by more than 1 day, then the task is performed in pair programming, when the one who appreciates in the smaller direction, controls who rated in great.
Tips:
It is necessary to strive so that the complexity of the task does not exceed 1 day.
Planning is best done in such a way that the team always has a supply of tasks for 1-2 days, but no more. So all participants will remember well all the details of the discussion of each specific task. If the task is in the queue for execution for more than 4 days, it must be brought up for discussion so that the team remembers what and how it should be done on the task.
If the task is performed for 2 days longer than planned, it needs to be re-planned and discussed with the team and the customer all the difficulties and problems encountered in the course of implementation, so that the next time they are taken into account in the assessment.
The format of “Planning Poker” is well accustomed to the work of our teams: developers, analysts, administrators, and allows you to better understand the tasks and their solutions at the stage of setting.
How do you discuss tasks and assess the complexity and time to complete them? Share your experiences in the comments!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/334256/
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