How to: Compare Estimates to Actuals in Agility

This feature is available in all editions

Question

When doing sprint retrospectives, I would like to compare backlog item estimates versus actuals. I'd like to compare the rolled-up detailed backlog item estimate (i.e., total hours estimated on backlog item tasks) against the rolled-up backlog item Effort (i.e., the total hours worked on backlog item tasks).

What is the best way to do this?

Also, I would ideally like to be able to compare, for each backlog item, the total detailed backlog item estimate at the *start* of the sprint to the rolled-up actual backlog item Effort at the end of the sprint.

Answer

Quicklist reports are the fastest way to see the sum of estimates vs. actuals at the backlog item level. Customize the grid to include the Estimate, Total Detail Estimate, and Total Done columns.

Detail Estimate is typically entered at the beginning of the sprint and not changed, while Effort (if tracked) and To Do are updated as the team moves through the sprint. Some teams use a specific Task Type to differentiate Planned work from Unplanned work within the sprint. You can use the Task Quicklist to filter out your task list to one type or another (use the More... link in the filters section of the grid to filter by Task Type).

Member-level comparisons with Team-level rollups can be viewed in the Estimation Accuracy report. This report compares the Detail Estimate of all work within the sprint to the Actuals.