Estimation Technique in Agile

Estimation is the process of finding an estimate, or approximation. It is an Art of guessing. Estimation includes four main factors - money, effort, resources, and time needed to build a specific system or product. There are many techniques available in today's world for doing estimations in an Agile Project. The main objectives for doing estimations include Relative Estimation, discussions to get more information on items whose estimations need to be done and ensuring the commitment and enthusiasm of the whole team towards the tasks assigned to them. Agile Project Estimation Techniques are:

1. Dot Voting: In Dot Voting Techniques all the user stories along with their description are posted on the board. Each member put a dot in front of those stories that they consider most important. This way the stories are sorted according to their priorities. This is done to select the most important stories that should be taken forward.
2. T-Shirt Size: This technique helps in open and mutual collaborative discussions. In this technique, t-shirt sizes -XS (Extra Small), S (Small), M (Medium), L (Large), and XL (Extra Large) are used. User stories are given t-shirt sizes according to the member's understanding. This technique provides rough estimation very fast.
3. Planning Poker: Planning Poker is the most famous Estimation technique in Agile. This technique makes sure that every member participates in the estimation and shares his/her opinion. In this technique cards with numbers on them, are given to each member of the team. The Product Owner reads the story, after which every member has to hold the card showing the level of effort they will make for the user story. Discussion and Re-estimation go on until the whole team reaches a consensus.
4. The Bucket System: The Bucket System estimation technique is much faster than the Planning Poker technique. In this buckets are created with random values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 20, 30, 50. The whole team estimates the items by placing them in these “buckets”. In the Bucket System Divide and Conquer approach is followed.
5. Large/Uncertain/Small: This technique is for doing rough estimation and it is simpler than the Bucket system technique. All the items are categorized in Large/Uncertain/Small. First simple user stories are chosen for estimation then more complex ones are taken. It's a good technique when comparable items are in the Product Backlog.
6. Relative Estimation: In this technique, teams estimate user stories according to one another rather than giving them exact numerical values. For instance, they can state, without assigning specific point values, that Story X is twice as complex as Story Y. This method prioritizes selection and ranking while simplifying estimation.
7. Story Points: In this estimation technique, user stories are given story points based on complexities, effort, and risk by teams. Story points are a metric without units and can stand in for any comparable value decided by the team. This method is adaptable and frequently used alongside Planning Poker.
8. Estimation Based on Velocity: This technique states the amount of work a team can accomplish in a sprint is measured by the team's velocity. Teams calculate the amount of user story points that can commit to in the following sprint using their average velocity over several sprints.

Conclusion

The choice of the estimation technique depends on the context of the project and the amount of detail required for it. The teams can use more than one technique at the same time to look for different aspects of the work together.