Comments on: Points or days? Should we care?!

By: Tim Charles

Tim Charles — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:12:58 +0000

An estimate in points has a longer life span than estimates in ideal days. It is simply because the point estimate only takes into account one parameter and that is the size.- True. You have a good analysis with this one. Informative post!

By: James Anders

James Anders — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:56:36 +0000

Nice post Ram! I enjoy reading your blog.

By: Magnus

Magnus — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:11:10 +0000

A year late, but in case anyone is still reading this. Since the concept of points is entirely arbitrary the developers need a point of reference to be able to comprehend how much effort a point requires.

By: Olle

Olle — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:52:06 +0000

So what are we waiting for, JoJo please talk to Lena… what the heck, let’s all have a talk about this face to face.. Great blog post Ram!

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:34:42 +0000

I cannot agree more, you have concicely hemmed in all the arguments for points as opposed to ideal time I could ever think of.

By: Ram

Ram — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:51:40 +0000

Yeah, ideal days is complex and it does not give the right picture!

By: Ram

Ram — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:50:06 +0000

I agree!
It is hard enough with just 3 dimensions. Why the heck should we bring in space & time and add more complexity? I cannot understand

By: PEZ

PEZ — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:23:06 +0000

Of course points are better than ideal days. I have never understood why anyone would ever ask for ideal days measures once they’ve understood the points system. Wait, I guess I answered my own question there. =) Anyway, another problem, the biggest problem actually, with ideal time measures is that it gets really hard to communicate with the stakeholders. They see estimates in days and you have to go to lengths to explain to them that it’s not actually days. It takes a superhuman to free yourself of expectations that those ideal days actually represent days somehow, somewhere.

By: Mikael Malmen

Mikael Malmen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:25:33 +0000

As long as we are clear that it is size we are estimating, points are best. However, somewhere the size has to be fitted into a calender so that the managers has an idea of what will be done when. Therfore we went to ideal days. Some developers also had problems with abstact points; they wanted something to measure size by. If we are to measure with points we need the managers (primarily Lena) to get abord. We also need some stories everyone is familiar with as examples of the various sizes.

By: Supritha

Supritha — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:30:48 +0000

Hi Ram,
I too agree with you. Think its always better to take up an story based on its size and produce quality code istead of limiting ourselves to days.