Estimation planner extension
In project management, accurately gauging the effort required to complete a work item is crucial for successful sprint planning and execution. Since work items are often shared amongst multiple sprint users, the estimation points are collectively decided. Traditionally, this decision is made by having a lengthy discussion among the sprint users, which can be time-consuming and sometimes unproductive.
To overcome this struggle, the Estimation Planner extension provides an efficient alternative allowing team members to cast their votes on the estimation points independently. This not only saves valuable time, but also promotes a more collaborative approach to decide the estimation points.
Availability: All paid plans
Install extension
To install the extension:
- Click the gear icon at the top-right corner. The settings window will appear.
- Click All under the Marketplace section. The listing page will appear.
- Select Estimation planner.
- Click Install on the following page.
- Select the projects and set the accessibility for the users.
- Click Install Now. After the installation, go to the Authorization tab.
- Click Authorize to authorize the trigger and grant access to your Estimation Planner and Zoho Sprints accounts.
Access Permission
- In Scrum projects, users who have permission to edit sprint can create, update, and delete sessions in Sprint.
- In Kanban projects, users who have permission to edit project can create, update, and delete sessions.
- Only users with the edit work items entity level permission and edit estimation points field level permission will be able to cast their vote for the work items.
Access Estimation planner
Once the estimation planner extension is installed in your workspace, you can access the Estimation Planner extension from the below-mentioned locations:
- Sprint backlog header
- Right panel in Sprints details page
- Right panel in the item details page
Working of Estimation planner
After installing the estimation planner extension, navigate to an active or upcoming sprint to create an estimation planning session. The session enables the assignees to cast their votes for the estimation point that they deem appropriate for each work item.
Step 1: Create Session
The sessions can be created only in active and upcoming sprints and in the kanban board.
To create an estimation session:
- Hover over the Sprint backlog header and click the settings icon beside it.
- Select Estimation Planner.
- Enter the session title, estimation factor, and session remark.
- Click Create.
When you create a session, it will have the Planned status. When the session is in Planned status, the users can discuss and evaluate the sprint items.
When starting a session, you’ll be prompted to select an end date, which is optional; you can simply click Start Session. In either case, a comment will be added to the Sprint to record the action. If you later select or update an end date, that change will also be recorded as a comment in the Sprint.
Session status
There are three statuses for the session:
- Planned: Upon creation, the session status gets updated to Planned, in which the users can discuss and evaluate the sprint items.
- Active: When you click the Start button in the session, the session status gets updated to Active, in which the users can vote for the work item guessed based on the effort required to complete the work item.
- Stopped: When you click the Stop button in the session, the session status gets updated to Stopped, after which the estimation results can be viewed.
You can change the status of the session multiple times. After stopping the session, you can start the session again by clicking the Replan button in the session details view. Once you click the Replan button, the status changes to Active, and it can then be updated to Stopped.
Status cycle
Estimation factor
The estimation factor is the determining aspect that is used to produce the end result of the voting. You can choose from the available options to arrive at a conclusive result that is best suited for your estimation perspective. You can choose any one of the estimation factors while creating a session for active, upcoming, or kanban sprints. The estimation factors are:
- Point nearest average estimate: The average value of all the points will be considered.
- Maximum point: The maximum point voted by the user will be considered.
- Minimum point: Minimum point voted by the user will be considered.
- Most voted maximum point: The point with the most number of votes will be considered. However, if multiple values have the same highest number of votes, then the maximum among them will be chosen.
- Most voted minimum point: The point with the most number of votes will be considered. However, if multiple values have the same highest number of votes, then the minimum among them will be chosen.
- Median value for max and min points: The average value of maximum and minimum points will be considered.
Session remark
In session remark, you can @ mention a specific user or use "@sprint users" to notify all the users of the respective sprint.
Step 2: Cast your votes
The sprint users can cast their votes for the work items only when the Sprint Estimation session is in Active status. When the sprint owner starts the session, the status will be changed to Active.
To cast your vote:
- Click the work item within the sprint.
- Click the Estimation planner extension in the right panel.
- Add your estimation in the Select Estimation field.
- Click Update.
To quick vote from Sprint backlog, board, release board, and epic board:
- Click the more icon beside the work item name.
- Select Estimation Planner.
- Select your voting point and click Update.
Based on the estimation factor selected in the session, the estimation point will be updated. This estimation point added for estimation vote by the users can be updated any number of times before the session is stopped. Estimation points will be updated after every vote automatically, which in turn will reduce the manual work. The other users' voting details and estimation factor result will be displayed only when the session is stopped. When the session's status is Active, voting details will not be displayed to avoid influence amongst the users.
Revert your vote
When the session is in Active status, you can even revert your vote in case you have voted by mistake for any work item you are not involved. Please note that this option can be accessed only within the item details page.
To revert your vote:
- Go to the item details page.
- Click the Estimation Planner extension.
- Hover over the Select Estimation field.
- Click Clear.
- Click Update.
Your vote for the work item's estimation point will be removed.
Step 3: Know the result
When you start the session, you'll be prompted to enter the session end date and time. Once you set it, your session will automatically stop as it reaches the end time. You can also manually stop the session by clicking the Stop button in the Session Details section.
After the session is stopped, the voting will be closed. The estimation result will be displayed within the item details section. The estimation details page will have two sections: Estimators and Estimation results.
To view the estimation results:
- Click the respective work item in the sprint.
- Click the estimation planner widget in the right panel.
- View the results from the Estimation Results section.
- View the estimators from the Estimators section.
The Estimators section contains the list of users who participated in the voting along with their voted estimation point for the work item.
The Estimation Results section will show the result for all the estimation factors. The result based on the session's estimation factor will be marked. If required, the sprint owner can select an alternate estimation factor as well.
Note: The voting result will be listed only after the session stops. This helps avoid influence amongst other estimators.
Filter voted work items
You can filter the work items for which the users have voted their estimation points.
To filter voted items:
- Go to a project.
- Click the filter icon.
- Scroll to the Estimated By field and select the users.
- Click Apply. The voted work items will be filtered from the rest and listed for you to view them separately.
Note: This filter can be applied from any work item listing pages (Backlog, Epic, Board) and in Global View.
Remove authorization for the Estimation planner extension
If you want to stop the app from syncing data from Zoho Sprints to Estimation planner using your credentials, you can select the Remove option.
To remove Zoho OAuth authorization:
- Click the gear icon at the top-right corner. The settings window will appear.
- Click All under the Marketplace section. The listing page will appear.
- Click Estimation planner.
- On the Extension Details page, switch to the Authorization tab in the right pane.
- Click the Remove button beside the Connection field. You'll be redirected to the Connections page.
- Hover over the Estimation planner connection and click Revoke.
- Click Revoke in the confirmation screen.
Disable Estimation planner extension
To disable the extension:
- Click the gear icon at the top-right corner. The settings window will appear.
- Click All under the Marketplace section. The listing page will appear.
- Click Estimation planner.
- Click Disable.
Disabling the extension will temporarily stop the extension from running and can be enabled again anytime when it is required. Follow the same steps mentioned above and click Enable to enable the extension again.
Uninstall Estimation planner extension
To remove this extension from your workspace completely, you can uninstall the extension.
To uninstall the extension:
- Click the gear icon at the top-right corner. The settings window will appear.
- Click All under the Marketplace section. The listing page will appear.
- Click Estimation planner.
- Click Uninstall.
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