Combining Data Analytics with Team Feedback to Improve the Estimation Process in Agile Software Development

Abstract We apply a mixed research method to improve the user stories estimation process in a German company following agile software development. We combine software project data analytics with elicitation of teams’ feedback, identify root causes for wrong estimates and propose an improved version of the estimation process. Three major changes are adopted in the new process: a shorter non numerical scale for story points, an analogy-based estimation process, and retrospectives analyses on the accuracy of previous sprints estimates. The new estimation process is applied on a new project, and an improvement of estimates accuracy from 10% to 45% is observed.

[1]  Marco Torchiano,et al.  Stakeholders' Perception of Success: An Empirical Investigation , 2009, 2009 35th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications.

[2]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  From origami to software development: a review of studies on judgment-based predictions of performance time. , 2012, Psychological bulletin.

[3]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  A review of studies on expert estimation of software development effort , 2004, J. Syst. Softw..

[4]  Mike Cohn,et al.  Agile Estimating and Planning , 2005 .

[5]  Patricia B. Humphrey.  What is a p‐value? , 2012 .

[6]  Magne Jørgensen,et al.  What Contributes to the Success of IT Projects? An Empirical Study of IT Projects in the Norwegian Public Sector , 2017, J. Softw..

[7]  Lefteris Angelis,et al.  Overestimation and Underestimation of Software Cost Models: Evaluation by Visualization , 2013, 2013 39th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications.

[8]  Ning Nan,et al.  Impact of Budget and Schedule Pressure on Software Development Cycle Time and Effort , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[9]  Reidar Conradi,et al.  A Review of Studies on Expert Estimation of Software Development Effort , 2006 .

[10]  Stefan Wagner,et al.  Fast Feedback Cycles in Empirical Software Engineering Research , 2015, 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering.

[11]  Marco Kuhrmann,et al.  Criteria for software process tailoring: a systematic review , 2013, ICSSP 2013.

[12]  Kent L. Beck,et al.  Extreme programming explained - embrace change , 1990 .

[13]  Steve McConnell.  Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art , 2006 .

[14]  Madeleine Grealy,et al.  Timing processes in motor imagery , 2008 .

[15]  Dean Leffingwell,et al.  Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise , 2011 .

[16]  H. D. Rombach,et al.  The Goal Question Metric Approach , 1994 .

[17]  Jeffrey K. Pinto,et al.  Does Agile work? - A quantitative analysis of agile project success , 2015 .