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Incorrect estimate of a Sprint Backlog item

Last post 03:18 pm April 8, 2015 by tim muttitt
3 replies
Ahmad Abdel-Aziz
11:58 am April 3, 2015

Hello,

The Development Team realizes that the volume of work of one of the items in the Sprint Backlog is estimated incorrectly, and the current volume of work of the whole Sprint Backlog is 130 instead of 100.

What should they do?

Thanks,
Ahmed

Ian Mitchell
01:17 pm April 3, 2015

What are your thoughts?

Consider:
- Should the Development Team tell the Product Owner, and if so, what should the message be?
- Can the Sprint Goal still be achieved?
- Can the estimation process be improved so a similar problem does not recur in the future?

Nikhil Sinha
01:35 pm April 3, 2015

I think the Scrum master should encourage developer to talk to the product owner and negotiate what can be achieved.

tim muttitt
03:18 pm April 8, 2015

please remember it is also an estimate - so it isn't expected to be exact and the estimates tend to average themselves out over time.

It is an estimate and there is only so much value to be gained from estimates, so do not spend too much time on estimating as this doesn't deliver much, if any, value to the organization/customers.

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