Improving Team Velocity through regular Refinements paired with Estimations

In software engineering, we often find ourselves preoccupied with the idea of speed, efficiency, and rapid delivery. However, when taken in isolation, these elements can often lead to unfulfilled expectations, missed deadlines, misunderstandings, and decreased quality. This is where regular, consistent refinements and the use of story points (AKA estimations) come into play. They are not just about gauging velocity of a given sprint but powerful aids in ensuring clarity and improving the overall quality of delivery.

The Impact of Regular Refinements:

1. Eliminating Ambiguity: Regular refinements are sessions where the engineering team dives into the details of what needs to be built next. This is crucial for ironing out any potential misunderstandings or ambiguities in the requirements. Unclear or ambiguous requirements are often cited as a major reason for sprint failures.

2. Setting the Right Expectations: Without regular refinements, there's a risk that the team might not have a good enough shared understanding of the product's requirements or the stakeholders' expectations. This can lead to features being built that don't truly serve the user's needs or meet the business's objectives.

3. Increasing Efficiency: Consistent refinements mean less rework. When requirements (inc. acceptance criteria) are understood clearly from the outset, the likelihood of having to go back and make significant changes decreases substantially.

The True Value of Story Points:

Story points, a unit of measure for expressing the estimated effort required to complete a piece of work, have traditionally been seen as a way to gauge a team's velocity or productivity. But that's just scratching the surface. Let's delve deeper into their true value.

1. Sparking Conversation: Estimating a ticket (or issue) isn’t just about slapping a number (from fibonacci sequence) onto it. It's a conversation starter. When team members have differing opinions on how many points to assign, it's an indicator that there's a lack of clarity or a difference in understanding. This conversation can uncover potential challenges, dependencies, discrepancies in delivery, or risks that might have otherwise been overlooked.

2. Ensuring Shared Understanding: When team members converge on a point estimate after discussions, it's a good sign that there's a shared understanding of what the work entails. This collective agreement can significantly reduce the chances of unforeseen obstacles during the development phase.

3. Splitting up of tickets: If story points end up on the high end then it's usually an indicator that the ticket being discussed needs splitting up further into more bite-sized tickets. Some might say 13 is too high but others would say that even 8 is too large. Consistently large tickets may also indicate that additional time is required during planning stages such as grooming tickets.

4. Balancing the Workload: Story points can also help in load balancing. If one team member is consistently picking up high-point tickets while another is taking on lower-point ones, it may indicate a workload disparity. This can be addressed to ensure that everyone is pulling their weight and that work is evenly distributed.

In Conclusion:

While speed and efficiency are vital components of a successful squad, it's the underlying processes and dialogue that truly drive success. Regular and consistent refinements (this also goes for other key ceremonies too!) provide a platform for ironing out details, setting expectations, and ensuring that the team is on the same page. On the other hand, story points, when used correctly, become more than just a numerical measure or metric – they're a tool for conversation, clarification, and cohesion.

In a landscape that's continually evolving, it's these foundational principles that will ensure that a team can navigate challenges, adapt to changes, and consistently deliver high-quality results.