Today we just did planning poker for the first time. It was an interesting experience as it I realized that it is not just for planning. By doing consensus based estimation (similar to Delphi model), the exercise of estimation will:
1. Identify gaps in the requirements. This leads to better requirements.
2. Great equalizer of information. As the high/low estimations will need to discuss their positions, knowledge and information is shared.
3. Generates buy in. Since this is a group effort, consensus of estimates will have team buy in and greater likelihood of commitment.
It was a stimulating discussion, but the facilitator needs to keep an eye on the clock as discussions can devolve into something else and sidetrack the team from the task at hand. The facilitator is integral to formulation consensus based estimations as a team will usually have one or two persons have seniority or just plain talk loudest that can anchor an estimate.
What is anchoring? Take the following scenario as an example. During our planning exercise, we had discussed a story prior to estimation. One of the first things the developer said was "well I don't think this will take very long." With that one sentence, it will 'anchor' a team that the task is small, thus the estimate should also be small. Imagine if the developer had said, "Well, this should be a two day job." BANG, everyone will think its a two day job.
One of the key concepts of a consensus driven estimate is to level asymmetric knowledge and experience. A low ball estimate may mean that the estimator may not see the complexity of the problem, or know a better way of doing it and vice versa. The key here is to let everybody form their own idea of how long and complex a task is suppose to take, get all the information and experience into the open, discuss and reestimate. With each cycle, information, experience and how to get the task done is shared and hopefully the best solution will be byproduct.
Update: There is an online planning poker tool provided by Mountain Goat software.
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