PMI-ACP Practice Questions #88
Your Agile team is developing a CRM system for a retail company. During backlog refinement, the team is estimating the following user story:
“As a sales representative, I want to generate customer reports, so that I can analyze sales trends.”
During estimation, a developer states that the effort required for development is 3 story points. However, a tester argues that testing, integration, and preparing for the sprint demo will take an additional 2 story points.
What should the final story point estimate be?
A. 3 story points – Testing is implicitly included in development estimates, so there’s no need to add extra points.
B. 5 story points – Add the development and testing estimates together (3+2) for a more accurate total.
C. Let the team discuss and agree on a single number that represents the overall effort, considering complexity, risk, and effort holistically.
D. Use different story point estimates for development and testing to track effort separately.
Analysis
In Agile, story points are used to estimate the overall effort required to complete a user story, rather than breaking it down into separate development and testing estimates. The team should collaboratively determine a single estimate that represents the complexity, risk, and effort involved. The correct approach is to have the entire team discuss and agree on a single number that represents the overall effort, rather than just summing up individual contributions or tracking them separately.
Analysis of Options
A: 3 story points – Testing is implicitly included in development estimates, so there’s no need to add extra points.
This option partially aligns with the idea that story points should represent a collective estimate. However, it incorrectly assumes that the developer’s estimate alone is sufficient. Story points should be determined by the entire team, considering all aspects of the work, including development, testing, integration, and any additional complexity. Simply taking the developer’s estimate without team discussion does not align with Agile principles.
B: 5 story points – Add the development and testing estimates together (3+2) for a more accurate total.
While some organizations follow this approach, it is not aligned with Agile best practices. Story points should reflect the relative size of a story rather than being a direct summation of individual effort estimates. Adding up effort from different roles results in a task-based estimation rather than a holistic evaluation of the story. Agile focuses on collaborative estimation rather than departmentalized effort tracking.
C: Let the team discuss and agree on a single number that represents the overall effort, considering complexity, risk, and effort holistically.
This is the correct answer. Story points should be estimated through team discussion, considering all factors such as complexity, effort, and risk. The final number should be a shared estimate agreed upon by the entire team, rather than a sum of individual contributions. This approach fosters collaboration and ensures that the estimate represents the full scope of work needed to complete the story.
D: Use different story point estimates for development and testing to track effort separately.
This approach leads to dysfunction. Tracking development and testing separately in terms of story points can create confusion and disrupt workflow. Agile emphasizes delivering complete user stories rather than tracking work in isolated stages. If development is completed but testing is not, it becomes unclear how the story is ranked or considered done, creating measurement issues and complicating progress tracking.
Conclusion
The best approach is Option C, where the team collaborates to determine a single story point estimate that considers all aspects of work. This approach aligns with Agile principles by promoting shared ownership, collaboration, and holistic estimation rather than summing up or separating efforts.
PMI – ACP Exam Content Outline Mapping
| Domain | Task |
| Product | Refine Product Backlog |
Topics Covered:
- Story points represent the overall effort, considering development, testing, integration, and risk
- Team discussion is essential to reach a consensus on estimation
- Avoid summing up individual estimates from different roles
- Ensure a single, holistic estimate that aligns with Agile principles of collaboration and shared ownership
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