Relative Sizing: How to Get It Right

The complexities of product design and project management require more than just a keen eye for detail—it demands precise tools that streamline processes and optimize resources.?

One such indispensable tool is relative sizing, a technique that, when mastered, can significantly enhance your project’s efficiency and outcomes.

Why does it matter??

Because getting it right means your team can allocate resources more effectively, estimate timelines more accurately, and make smarter decisions that propel your projects forward.

Understanding Relative Sizing in Agile

Relative sizing helps Agile teams communicate and collaborate more effectively. Consider the development of Slack’s search functionality. Some tasks, like optimizing search algorithms, might be "bite-sized," while others, such as building the entire search infrastructure, are more "banquet-sized." By categorizing tasks in this way, teams bring clarity to each task's scale.

Using relative estimation techniques like story points or the modified Fibonacci sequence allows teams to compare the complexity of each user story to a baseline task, ensuring everyone shares the same understanding of the effort required.?

Miscommunication about task size and effort can lead to confusion, missed deadlines, and project misalignment with Agile principles.

This was evident in the development of the HealthCare.gov website, where initial misestimates led to a launch plagued with issues and delays.

Techniques like planning poker during backlog refinement enable team members to discuss and agree on story sizes collaboratively, ensuring alignment across the team.

By focusing on relative effort instead of absolute estimates, Agile teams can improve project flow and responsiveness, avoiding the pitfalls seen in complex projects like those of Boeing's software development for its aircraft systems.

Importance of Relative Sizing in Agile Methodologies

Relative sizing enhances teamwork by facilitating discussions around user stories and their complexity in a collaborative environment. In the development of Uber’s dynamic pricing feature, the team needed to gauge the complexity of various components, such as integrating real-time data from millions of users versus simple UI updates.?

This approach allowed the team to align their sprint backlog with project goals, ensuring accuracy and clarity.

Without relative sizing, estimates can be inaccurate, leading to missed deadlines and dissatisfaction.?

This issue was experienced during the development of the BBC’s Digital Media Initiative, where poor estimation practices led to spiraling costs and eventually, the project’s cancellation. Participating in backlog refinement and applying Agile estimation methods helped teams like Spotify’s improve project timing, reducing the likelihood of such issues.

Benefits of Relative Estimation

Relative estimation fosters collaboration and consensus among Scrum teams during sprint planning and backlog refinement. In a project to integrate Google Maps into Uber’s app, using methods like bite-sized versus banquet-sized tasks allowed team members to express their opinions on story sizes and required effort, creating a collective understanding.

This approach leads to better task duration predictions, as seen in the development of Netflix’s recommendation engine, where accurate relative estimates were key to the project's success.

Teams can set story points using baseline stories, such as comparing the integration of a new payment system to a previously implemented feature.?

This provides a clearer view of the product and sprint backlogs, enabling more effective resource allocation and minimizing unexpected issues.?

During the development of Apple’s Face ID technology, the team realized that what seemed like a "bite-sized" task was, in reality, much more complex, requiring a shift in sprint priorities.

Relative estimation also enhances adaptability, allowing teams to quickly respond to changes, as demonstrated by the development of Tesla’s Autopilot software.?

The team’s ability to recalibrate their estimates mid-project ensured that the software development remained aligned with Agile principles and could adapt to evolving requirements.

Challenges in Implementing Relative Sizing

Challenges in relative sizing often stem from miscommunication. This was evident during the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s software systems, where differing definitions of task sizes led to significant delays and rework.?

Agile teams can address this by consistently reviewing their product backlog and discussing user stories during sprint planning meetings.?

By refining their estimation techniques and ensuring all team members have a shared understanding, companies like Spotify have successfully navigated these challenges in their continuous deployment processes.

Planning poker can help team members agree on estimates and encourage idea sharing, as seen in the development of Facebook’s algorithms, where regular refinement sessions were key to managing complexity and ensuring the project stayed on track.?

By improving communication, teams can better support Agile principles and enhance collaboration in their projects, avoiding the pitfalls of poorly estimated and executed initiatives, such as the disastrous rollout of Windows Vista.

Balancing Complexity and Time

Agile teams can prioritize tasks by categorizing user stories based on relative effort. During the development of LinkedIn’s endorsement feature, the team used story points to estimate the complexity of implementing various components, such as the backend data processing versus the user interface.?

This approach allowed them to balance complexity and time, ensuring the project stayed on track.

For more complex tasks, using a modified Fibonacci sequence to estimate relative size proved beneficial in the development of Salesforce’s CRM updates, where accurately estimating the size of backend integrations was crucial.?

Planning poker encouraged input from all team members, helping to identify risks associated with complex tasks while ensuring project milestones were met. Regular backlog refinement, as practiced by teams at Google, allows for adjustments that keep projects like Google Assistant development on track, even as scope changes.

Engaging stakeholders during evaluations promotes collaboration and boosts morale, as evidenced by the success of the Agile transformation at ING Bank, where stakeholder involvement was critical to the bank’s ability to innovate quickly.?

Celebrating small achievements, such as successfully deploying new features in small increments, keeps the team motivated and engaged.

Heartbeat Retrospective

In the Heartbeat Retrospective, Agile teams assess the effectiveness of their relative sizing methods. After completing a sprint for an e-commerce platform like Amazon’s, the team might review user stories and their assigned story points to gain insights for future sprints.?

When integrating a new payment gateway, underestimations might reveal the need to adjust baseline stories for more accuracy.

Reflecting on past experiences helps improve future estimates, as demonstrated by the iterative improvements in Airbnb’s booking system, where the team learned from early missteps in story sizing. This process supports agility in software development, allowing teams to better understand story size variations and their impact on the sprint backlog.

10 Tips for Getting Relative Sizing Right

1. Involve the Whole Team Engage everyone in discussions about user stories to ensure accurate estimations. Tools like planning poker, as used in the development of WhatsApp’s encryption features, can foster collaboration and consensus, making the process more efficient.
2. Regularly Update the Backlog Keep the product backlog aligned with current priorities by updating it during sprint planning. Use relative estimation techniques like story points, as seen in the continuous updates to Spotify’s platform, to keep estimates relevant and accurate.
3. Train on Agile Practices Provide training on relative sizing and planning poker. Understanding these methods helps teams make more accurate estimates, as evident in the training programs implemented by companies like Atlassian.
4. Define "Done" Clearly Establish clear criteria for what constitutes "done" for each user story. Regularly review and update these definitions to ensure everyone is on the same page, as practiced by teams at IBM during their Agile transformations.
5. Use Visual Aids Leverage visual tools like story cards or diagrams to represent user stories and their relative sizes. Visual aids simplify complex concepts, much like the roadmaps used by Tesla to communicate the development stages of their software updates.
6. Document Learnings Record insights from your relative sizing experiences. Use this knowledge to refine future estimations, improving both collaboration and accuracy, similar to how the NASA team documented their learnings in the Mars Rover projects.
7. Encourage Open Feedback Create a culture where team members feel comfortable sharing feedback on sizing estimates. Regularly revisit and adjust estimates based on collective input, a practice seen in the iterative development processes at Adobe.
8. Refine Techniques Based on Feedback Continuously refine your estimation methods by incorporating feedback from previous sprints. Adjust your approach as needed to improve accuracy, much like the continuous improvement cycles used by Toyota in their production systems.
9. Monitor Progress Regularly Regularly assess your progress against estimates during sprint planning. Use these check-ins to fine-tune your methods and stay aligned with project goals, as practiced by teams at Microsoft during the development of Azure.
10. Celebrate Small Wins Acknowledge and celebrate completed tasks and accurate estimates. Celebrating small victories boosts morale and reinforces effective practices, as demonstrated by the culture of recognition at Google.

Relative sizing planning is a strategic approach to project management that prioritizes tasks and allocates resources effectively.?

In fast-paced environments like those at Netflix, comparing the effort needed for different tasks helps teams understand project scope and complexity better.

Regular reviews and adjustments of estimates throughout the project lifecycle help maintain accuracy and adaptability.

While challenges in relative sizing can arise from differing team perspectives or lack of historical data, organizations like Amazon and Spotify have overcome these by fostering a collaborative culture and referring to past project metrics, ensuring their teams are well-prepared for the complexities of modern projects.

Grow your team stronger by learning smarter…

This blog post? is based on Episode 147 of the Biz/Dev podcast and proudly brought to you by Big Pixel, a 100% U.S. based custom design and software development firm located near the city of Raleigh, NC.