Roadmap › Team Lead, Managerial & Agile Interview › Module: The Role
Lessons in this course (13)
3. Estimation and planning
Intermediate★ Must knowLesson 3 of 13
- Break work down until pieces are ≤ 1–3 days; unknowns become spikes.
- Relative estimation (story points + planning poker) builds shared understanding; use historical velocity for sprint capacity.
- For fixed-date/fixed-scope client projects: bottom-up estimates in hours/days + three-point estimates (optimistic, most likely, pessimistic → PERT: (O + 4M + P) / 6) + contingency (often 15–25%) + explicit assumptions.
- Include non-coding work: code review, testing, deployment, documentation, meetings, holidays, support load.
- Re-estimate when you learn more; communicate changes early.
- Make trade-offs explicit: scope, time, cost, quality (the iron triangle — quality shouldn't be the variable).