Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn

Title: Agile Estimating and Planning
Author: Mike Cohn
Year: 2005
Pages: 368

Agile Estimating and Planning is the definitive, practical guide to estimating and planning agile projects.

In this book, Agile Alliance cofounder Mike Cohn discusses the philosophy of agile estimating and planning and shows you exactly how to get the job done, with real-world examples and case studies.

As a result, I gave this book a rating of 8.0/10.

For me, a book with a note 10 is one I consider reading again every year. Among the books I rank with 10, for example, is Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.

3 Reasons to read Agile Estimating and Planning

Solutions to Common Estimation Challenges

Agile Estimating and Planning provides clear strategies for overcoming the common difficulties faced in estimating software development projects. Cohn’s techniques enable teams to account for uncertainty while still delivering projects on time and within budget.

Step-by-Step Guidance on Agile Estimation Techniques

From introducing story points to calculating team velocity, Cohn offers easy-to-understand explanations of key Agile estimation techniques. These are practical tools that any Agile team can use to improve their estimation process.

Enhances Collaborative Planning

The book emphasizes the importance of involving the entire team in the planning process, fostering better communication and collective responsibility for meeting project goals. Cohn makes the case for how this collaborative approach ultimately leads to more accurate estimates and improved project delivery.

Concepts are clearly illustrated and readers are guided, step by step, toward how to answer the following questions: What will we build? How big will it be? When must it be done? How much can I really complete by then? You will first learn what makes a good plan and then what makes it agile.

The book begins by explaining why traditional planning methods often fall short in software development. Fixed requirements, long-term estimates, and inflexible project plans lead to missed deadlines and dissatisfied stakeholders. Agile, on the other hand, offers an alternative—one that embraces change, encourages team collaboration, and emphasizes value delivery over rigid timelines. Cohn’s approach breaks down complex concepts into understandable, actionable steps, using real-world examples to illustrate the theory in practice.

Cohn dives into essential Agile practices, such as planning at different levels—ranging from release planning to iteration (or sprint) planning. He emphasizes the importance of having a flexible plan that can adjust to new insights gained during the project. One of the strengths of this book is its practical application of Agile estimating techniques, particularly in teaching teams how to forecast project timelines with confidence while accommodating uncertainty.

Another vital theme is how teams can measure progress accurately. Cohn introduces the concept of velocity, which is the rate at which a team completes work, and discusses how to use this metric to predict future performance. The book provides a detailed breakdown of how to use story points as a method of estimating the complexity of tasks, ensuring that teams can maintain realistic goals without underestimating or overestimating effort.

Mike Cohn tries to answer questions like why conventional prescriptive planning fails and why agile planning works?

How to estimate feature size using story points and ideal days–and when to use each? How and when to re-estimate?

How do prioritize features using both financial and nonfinancial approaches?

How do split large features into smaller, more manageable ones?

How to plan iterations and predict your team’s initial rate of progress?

How do schedule projects that have unusually high uncertainty or schedule-related risk?

How to estimate projects that will be worked on by multiple teams?

Agile Estimating and Planning supports any agile or iterative process, including Scrum, XP, Feature-Driven Development, Crystal, Adaptive Software Development, DSDM, Unified Process, and many more.

To improve estimation according to the book, Agile Estimating, and Planning, teams should focus on understanding the basics of Agile project management, such as the principles of Agile planning, the importance of estimating, and the techniques used to create reliable estimates.

Additionally, teams should utilize various tools and techniques for tracking progress, such as burn-down charts, velocity charts, and cumulative flow diagrams.

Lastly, effective risk management should be practised to identify and mitigate potential issues.

By applying the best practices outlined in Agile Estimating and Planning, teams can quickly improve their ability to plan, estimate, and manage any project.

An estimate is not the same as a commitment. The aim of an estimate is to be as useful and accurate as possible. This means that padding or being optimistic about estimates is counterproductive.

In Agile Estimating and Planning, Mike Cohn provides a comprehensive and detailed set of tools and techniques to help any project team achieve success.

By understanding the basics of Agile project management and applying the best practices outlined in the book, teams can quickly improve their ability to plan, estimate, and manage any project.

A key concern in agile estimation is to separate the estimation of size and the measuring of velocity.

In separating these concerns, you can achieve an unbiased view of the size of a project and afterward assess the ability to achieve commitments or a schedule.

One of the standout features of this book is how well it addresses the human side of project management. Cohn doesn’t just focus on tools and techniques—he also emphasizes the importance of communication, collaboration, and adaptability. These themes run throughout the book, making it clear that effective estimation and planning are as much about team dynamics as they are about numbers and processes.

In terms of readability, the book strikes a balance between being instructional and engaging. It’s a well-structured guide that is easy to follow, with clear explanations that are accessible to readers with varying levels of experience in Agile.

What are the Key Ideas

The Role of Estimation in Agile Projects

Estimation is not about predicting exact outcomes but rather about giving teams a realistic forecast for planning purposes. Agile recognizes that uncertainty is part of software development, and estimation techniques should reflect this flexibility.

Story Points as an Effective Estimation Tool

One of the core ideas Cohn introduces is the concept of using story points to estimate the relative effort required for different tasks. Instead of focusing on hours or days, story points allow teams to estimate based on complexity and risk, providing a more accurate way to gauge effort.

The Power of Velocity

Velocity helps teams track their progress and predict future performance. By regularly measuring the amount of work completed in each iteration, teams can refine their estimates and create more reliable plans.

The Importance of Planning at Multiple Levels

What are the Main Lessons

Estimation is a Team Effort

Involve the entire team in the estimation process. Collaboration leads to more accurate estimates and fosters shared responsibility for meeting deadlines. Applying this lesson can improve both team morale and project accuracy.

Plan at Multiple Levels

Agile planning is dynamic, requiring teams to plan at both the macro (release) and micro (iteration) levels. By breaking down planning into smaller, more manageable chunks, teams can maintain flexibility while ensuring they stay aligned with overall goals.

Focus on Value Delivery

Instead of rigidly adhering to pre-defined timelines, focus on delivering valuable features incrementally. This lesson encourages teams to prioritize tasks that provide the most business value, adapting plans as needed to ensure these goals are met.

My Book Highlights

The best way of dealing with uncertainty is to iterate. To reduce uncertainty about what the product should be, work in short iterations, and show (or, ideally, give) working software to users every few weeks

A good plan is one that stakeholders find sufficiently reliable that they can use as the basis for making decisions

A key tenet of agile estimating and planning is that we estimate size but derive duration

Agile teams value individuals and interactions over processes and tools because they know that a well-functioning team of great individuals with mediocre tools will always outperform a dysfunctional team of mediocre individuals with great tools and processes

Whether it is changing careers or changing the world, an idea without a network will probably never become reality

We frequently fail to acknowledge and plan for this new knowledge. Failing to plan to acquire new knowledge leads to plans built on the assumption that we know everything necessary to create an accurate plan

The beauty of this is that estimating in story points completely separates the estimation of effort from the estimation of duration

For the product owner to have the most flexibility in prioritizing, features must be written so as to minimize the technical dependencies among them

Don’t split a large story into tasks. Instead, try to find a way to fire a tracer bullet through the story

Avoid making things worse by adding related changes to an appropriately sized feature unless the related changes are of equivalent priority

If you tie iterations to the ends of months, one out of every three iterations will coincide with the end of a fiscal quarter

Because the estimate for each feature is made relative to the estimates for other features, it does not matter if our estimates are correct, a little incorrect, or a lot incorrect. What matters is that they are consistent

Agile Estimating and Planning is an essential guide for any project team looking to improve their process for estimation and planning.

With detailed instructions and plenty of examples, Mike Cohn provides a comprehensive set of tools and techniques that can be quickly implemented to make any project successful.

By understanding the basics of Agile Estimating and Planning book, and applying the best practices outlined in the book, teams can quickly improve their processes and reach their goals.

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