Embarking on the journey of project estimation takes gradual skill refinement. Initially, teams grasp the nuances of estimating smaller, simpler tasks. This initial phase is crucial, as it lays the groundwork for understanding project dynamics and determining the team’s velocity—a key metric in Agile project management. As teams become adept at estimating these less complex items, they gain valuable insights into their own working pace and capabilities.
Achieving proficiency in estimating individual stories and entire Sprints marks a significant milestone. At this juncture, teams are ready to elevate their skills to the next level: estimating Epics.
Unlike the smaller tasks previously mastered, Epics represent a broader spectrum of work, often encompassing a vast array of interrelated tasks that extend beyond the confines of a single Sprint.
In the realm of business and project management, Epics are more than just large tasks. They are the embodiment of adding substantial value and capabilities to the organization. They encapsulate management’s vision for new, significant capabilities. When overseeing multiple teams or divisions, it becomes impractical to micromanage every task. Here, Epics serve as a strategic tool for grouping tasks and providing a macro view of project progress.
But how does one transition from estimating small-scale tasks to large-scale Epics? As we delve into this question, remember the forthcoming definitions will shed more light on the key terms and concepts, paving the way for a deeper understanding of the art and science of estimating Epics.
Definitions:
Sprint: A Sprint is a defined period, usually between two and four weeks, where a team works on a predetermined set of tasks from the product backlog. The Sprint begins with a planning meeting, where the scope of work is agreed upon. During the Sprint, the team focuses on completing these tasks, with daily stand-up meetings to monitor progress and address any issues. At the end of the Sprint, there’s a review meeting to present the completed work to stakeholders. That’s followed by a retrospective meeting for the team to reflect on the Sprint process and identify areas for improvement. The goal of each Sprint is to create a potentially shippable product increment, aligning with the Agile principles of continuous delivery and adaptability. This structure enables teams to respond flexibly to changes, encourages collaboration, and helps maintain a steady development pace.
Story Points: In Agile methodologies, particularly Scrum, a “story point” is a unit used to estimate the work required to implement a given story, feature, or piece of functionality. Story points are abstract measurements that allow development teams to understand the relative complexity of tasks compared to each other. [See WTF Is a Point for a detailed description of a story point.]
Epics: A project that spans beyond a single Sprint is often referred to as an “Epic.” An Epic is a large body of work that can be broken down into smaller tasks, known as “User Stories.” Epics are typically completed over multiple Sprints.
Velocity: A metric used to gauge the amount of work a team can complete in a single iteration or Sprint. It’s an essential tool for planning and forecasting in Agile methodologies, particularly in Scrum.
Going from Suck to Awesome
Suck – Not using Epics when your company is looking for ways to better plan at a level higher than a user story.
Still sucks – Using Epics to only group stories but not recognizing all the value that could be obtained from applying the same techniques to a user story.
Sucks a little less – Estimating Epics but not in a way that would lead to the ability to predict when the Epic would be completed.
Awesome – Estimating Epics in such a way that allows the team to plan the work and know when that work is going to be done. This includes the team measuring how effective they are at measuring Epics.
Estimating Epics Effectively
Why Estimate Anything Other Than a Story?
Resource Allocation and Planning: By estimating the size and effort required for an Epic, teams can better allocate resources, plan capacity, and schedule work. This helps in understanding how many Sprints might be needed to complete the Epic and what resources (e.g., team members, tools, and time) are necessary.
Prioritization: Estimations help prioritize work. When you know the effort involved in an Epic, you can make more informed decisions about what to work on first, based on the value delivered versus the effort required.
Road Mapping and Forecasting: Estimations allow for more accurate road mapping and forecasting. Understanding the size of an Epic helps predict when it can be delivered, which is crucial for setting stakeholder expectations and planning other dependent activities.
Risk Management: Larger tasks often carry more risk. Estimating Epics helps identify potential risks early in the project. This can include technical challenges, dependencies, or resource constraints, allowing for proactive risk management.
Continuous Improvement: Estimation is a key part of Agile’s iterative process. By estimating, executing, and then reviewing the accuracy of those estimates, teams can continuously improve their estimation skills, leading to more predictable and reliable planning.
Stakeholder Communication: Estimates provide stakeholders with a rough idea of the scope and scale of the work. This is important for managing expectations and updating stakeholders on the progress.
Breaking Down Work: Estimating an Epic often involves breaking it down into smaller, more manageable parts (User Stories). This breakdown can lead to a better understanding of the work involved and can uncover aspects of the work that might have been overlooked.
When Should a Team Attempt to Measure an Epic?
Understanding when to start estimating Epics in Agile project management is crucial for a team’s development. Initially, a team must build proficiency in managing single Sprint tasks. Mastery in this area is typically marked by consistent Sprint completions, a clear understanding of team capacity, and the ability to deliver predictable results. When these milestones are consistently achieved, it’s a clear indicator that the team is ready to tackle the more complex challenges Epics presents.
Introducing Epics should begin with a familiarization phase. It’s essential for teams to understand the broader scope and strategic significance of Epics before attempting to estimate them.
Using Agile tools effectively can facilitate this understanding. These tools can tag and track Epics, clearly delineating which user stories fall under their umbrella. This visibility is crucial for effective planning and management.
When a company places a high emphasis on timely project completion, it becomes particularly crucial to start estimating Epics. This scenario often arises when specific projects or functionalities are strategically important and have strict deadlines.
In such cases, the estimation of Epics is not just beneficial but necessary. It enables the team to align their work with the company’s urgent priorities and provides a clearer roadmap for project completion.
Estimating Epics under these circumstances helps in setting realistic timelines, allocating resources effectively, and managing stakeholder expectations. Therefore, if the completion date of an Epic is a significant factor for the organization, that is an opportune moment for the team to begin their estimation efforts, ensuring the planning and execution of work align with the broader time-sensitive objectives of the company.
Estimation of Epics should align with the company’s urgency in completing them, particularly when timelines are a significant concern. However, teams must be wary of the common pitfall of underestimating the time required for an Epic. It’s common for teams to uncover additional requirements or miss certain user stories during the initial planning phase.
Therefore, adopting a flexible and iterative approach to Epic estimation is advisable, anticipating the need for adjustments as new information and requirements emerge.
An Approach to Estimating Epics
As teams become adept at understanding their Sprint-level velocity, they gain proficiency in discerning the workload that can be accommodated in a single Sprint. This insight forms the basis for employing T-shirt sizing, a practical technique used to estimate the number of Sprints required for larger projects, such as Epics.
Here’s an illustrative breakdown of the T-shirt sizing method, drawn from a team’s recent Epic estimation exercise:
Extra Small (XS): Encompasses tasks achievable in less than one Sprint, typically involving one or two user stories.
Small (S): Represents work that can be completed in one Sprint.
Medium (M): Covers projects spanning two Sprints.
Large (L): Encompasses tasks that require four Sprints.
Extra Large (XL): Used for projects extending beyond four Sprints.
In practice, the XS and XL categories are less frequent. They serve more as conceptual guidelines: XS for very small-scale tasks and XL for projects so extensive they challenge precise estimation.
It’s important to note that the larger the project, the greater the potential for complexity and uncertainty, which can affect estimation accuracy.
The estimation process for Epics should encompass a range of factors, similar to those considered in story estimation, such as complexity, uncertainty, and effort. Businesses may also need to incorporate specific attributes unique to their context. For instance, an Epic might involve formal reviews or legal considerations, which could significantly influence the estimation.
To ensure accuracy and consistency, I advocate for a secondary review of all Epic estimations. This involves reassessing the relative sizes of all recently estimated Epics, especially those tied to strategic initiatives. Such a review might involve stack ranking the Epics from smallest to largest to evaluate their comparative scale.
This step allows teams to cross-verify their estimations and adjust if necessary. For example, during this review, a team member might observe, “If the wish list Epic is classified as Medium, then logically, the coupon Epic should be categorized as Large.”
This two-tier approach to estimating Epics—initial estimation followed by a review for consistency—helps ensure the estimations are realistic and aligned with the project’s complexity and business requirements.
Regarding Extra Small (XS) Epics, it’s important to approach them with caution and understanding. Typically, an XS epic arises when a larger Epic is subdivided into more manageable parts. This breakdown might occur during strategic planning phases, where a broader project is deconstructed into smaller, more focused initiatives. However, it’s essential to recognize that not all projects warrant the designation of an Epic. Some may essentially be just individual user stories.
Effective Epic management involves maintaining a clear distinction between substantial bodies of work and smaller tasks. Therefore, while it’s feasible for an Epic to consist of a single story, this should be the exception rather than the norm.
A proliferation of XS epics, each comprising only one story, can be a red flag. It suggests a potential misclassification of tasks, where items that do not truly meet the criteria of an Epic are being labeled as such. This mislabeling can lead to confusion and inefficiencies in project management. Thus, it’s crucial to critically evaluate and categorize projects, ensuring that the classification as an Epic genuinely reflects the scope and complexity of the work involved.
Addressing the topic of Extra Large (XL) Epics, it’s crucial to apply a similar principle as we do with overly large user stories. In Agile project management, when a user story is too extensive to fit within a single Sprint, it is typically broken down into smaller, more manageable parts. This same approach should be adopted for Epics that exceed a manageable size.
While there isn’t a strict rule, it is generally observed that Epics extending beyond four Sprints enter a zone where accurate estimation becomes increasingly challenging. The complexity and scope of such large projects can introduce significant uncertainties and variables, making it difficult to accurately predict timelines and resource requirements. Therefore, when faced with an Epic that is anticipated to take more than four Sprints, it is advisable to dissect it into smaller epics.
This breakdown not only aids in more precise estimation but also facilitates better management and tracking of the project. It allows teams to tackle each segment with focused attention and adaptability, ensuring a more controlled and systematic approach to project completion.
Consequently, scrutinizing and appropriately segmenting Extra-Large Epics is a key strategy in maintaining the reliability of the Agile estimation and planning process.
What’s Next?
Epics, integral to Agile project management, should be continuously improved as part of the team’s overall development efforts. Teams can adopt several strategies to foster a culture of continuous improvement, specifically for Epics.
First, teams can enhance their Epic estimation skills. Unlike user stories, which are confined to the duration of a Sprint and thus easier to measure, Epics usually span over longer periods. A practical approach to refining Epic estimation is to align them with larger timeframes, such as business quarters.
This alignment allows teams to evaluate their estimation accuracy over a more extended period, much like how Sprint velocity is assessed through planning, estimation, and repetition.
Additionally, teams can improve their Epic estimation accuracy by comparing their initial T-shirt size estimates to the number of Sprints required for completion. This method’s effectiveness largely depends on the capabilities of the Agile tool in use.
Moreover, many practices applied to user stories are also applicable to Epics. For instance, Epics prioritization can be managed even if the Agile tool lacks specific functionality for stack ranking. Teams can creatively adapt by renaming Epics to reflect their priority, such as renaming “Coupon Functionality” to “1-Coupon Functionality” to indicate a higher priority.
Furthermore, Epics can be assigned statuses like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Completed,” enabling better tracking and management. This status assignment helps maintain a clear overview of the progress and stages of various Epics.
Finally, for a broader organizational perspective, Epics can be aggregated into larger categories known as Themes. Themes encompass a collection of related Epics that collectively aim toward a significant, high-level objective or strategic goal of the organization. This grouping provides a more holistic view, linking various Epics under a unified strategic objective. For example, a theme like “Improving Customer Experience” might include several Epics focused on enhancing the user interface, optimizing the checkout process, and upgrading customer support services.
Conclusion
In summary, adeptly estimating Epics is a fundamental aspect of Agile project management. This skill is vital for optimizing resource distribution, setting priorities, and managing risks effectively.
Adopting the T-shirt sizing method for estimation offers a straightforward yet adaptable way to determine the extent of an Epic, ensuring team efforts are in sync with the organization’s wider objectives.
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