Estimation points - Effort vs duration

Estimation points - Effort vs duration

In Zoho Sprints, a project is the biggest entity that has a defined scope which is sub-divided into smaller units called Sprints. The scope of the project is released in smaller deliverables to the customers by running different sprints. In Agile, every project is defined by a size that will determine the complexity of the work that you do. This size is known as the Estimation Type.

Estimation Type   

Every project that you create in Zoho Sprints will have an option to create a prefix and estimation type. Zoho Sprints offers Fibonacci and Custom series for defining your estimation type. 
 
Based on the business, you will set the estimation type for your project. If you are opting for Fibonacci series, you can set up to five values: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. And the team can work around these estimation points for their work items. 
 
For example, if you're running a large business, the project will have a huge amount of work. In this case, you cannot confine to lower points.  What's the solution? You can set up to 15 custom points with a maximum of 3 digits. With this, you can have a clear estimation of the work your team does.


                                             
Estimation Points   

In Agile methodology, every work is defined with an estimation point. It is based on the type of work, the amount of effort required to complete the work, and its complexity. 
 
Estimation points are not random numbers that define work, it has a standard format that scales the effort and complexity of the work involved in the project. 
  • Accurate and clear way of defining the effort of your work.
  • Defines the complexity of the work
  • Measure the performance of the team by calculating the total estimation points completed vs total estimation points committed. 

Estimation points vs duration

There's a huge difference in estimating your work in points vs duration. Let's run a simple instance 'CLIMBING THE STAIRCASE'. Now, the task is to climb 150 steps and we have two individuals to accomplish this task. 
 
David is 24 years old and he can climb the steps in 10 minutes and Charles is 40 years old and he can climb the steps in 20 minutes. When you estimate the work in duration, you tend to take the expertise of the person here because of the age and health. Charles would take 2 times the duration of David to complete the task.


 
In Scrum, the overall performance of the user is calculated based on the effort required to accomplish the task - Here, effort refers to the complexity of the task. In the above case, the effort of climbing the 150 steps for both the individuals is same but the time taken to complete the task differs. 
 
Let us take a software example:
 
Mark runs an online shopping site and has two stories in the backlog:
 
User story 1: Develop payment module
User story 2: Develop support form 
 
Both the user stories requires design, development, and testing effort, but the user story 1 is complex than user story 2. User story 1 is a whole new section in the website that has a lot of development effort whereas user story 2 is less complex compared to the former. So, Mark estimates 50 points for user story 1 and 30 points for user story 2. 
 
"Scrum calculates more on effort and complexity of the work rather than the time it takes to complete the task".




      • Sticky Posts

      • Bug Viewer for Zoho Sprints

        Project managers work on multiple sprints simultaneously, and given the potential for a number of bugs that can crop up, it is helpful if the bugs can be viewed in a single location. This is made possible by the Bug Viewer for Zoho Sprints extension.

        • Recent Topics

        • Zoho Writer Merge Template with data from Zoho Analytics Views

          Hello, Is there any way to pull information from Zoho Analytics and put it into a Merge Template? I am trying to create a bulk export of one report that filters on a field to create a single document for each of the filter fields.

        • Having to enter bill before stock shows as available.

          Hi, Am I right in thinking you must create a bill from the purchase order receipt before the goods are available for shipping?

        • Agent Availability Report

          From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Businesses need to track when their support agents check in and check out from work. This report, titled Agent Availability, is one of the static reports that helps managers track the number

        • Writing by Hand in "Write" Notes

          Hi there! I just downloaded this app a few moments ago, and I was wondering if there was a way to write things by hand in "Write" mode instead of just typing in the keyboard. It would make things a bit more efficient for me in this moment. Thanks!

        • AI-driven construction analytics using Zoho Projects Plus

          Construction projects thrive on timelines; if a project is completed on or before the expected time, it makes headlines, but if it gets delayed, the company’s credibility will be at risk. Such projects require precise planning and constant monitoring,

        • Canadian payroll

          Hello ZOHO, is any updates on when payroll for Canada will be available?

        • Unified customer view: Bringing product intelligence into your CRM data

          For businesses today, applications and digital interfaces are the main touch points in the customer journey. While Zoho CRM data already tells who your customers are and what they buy, Zoho Apptics tells you how they interact and engage with your product.

        • Zoho Creator SaaS app with multiple client AND multiple users

          I am close to finalizing a Zoho Creator app that will be used by different companies to manage sale info, and each company can have multiple users using the app. Things were going perfectly until I tried a search on a report. I use a database field in each table to separate the data for each company, which works great. BUT when I do a search, I get to see ALL the data. This means that Company A could easily see the data from Companies B and C via the built-in search. Is there a way to set up the

        • Project Change Orders and Additions

          We are in the process of migrating from QuickBooks Online to Zoho Books. We have Zoho One and like the ability to sync all of our data across everything. And I like that projects work in a way that's less dumb than QuickBooks. I'm trying to figure out

        • Track online, in-office, and client location meetings separately with the new meeting venue option

          Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce meeting enhancements in Zoho CRM that bring more clarity and structure to how meetings are categorized. You can now specify the meeting venue to clearly indicate whether a meeting is being held online, at the

        • Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

          Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were

        • Possible to send Zoom AI Companion transcripts and summaries to contacts in CRM?

          Title says it all. Is it possible to send Zoom AI Companion transcripts and summaries to contacts in Zoho CRM?

        • Introducing segments for targeted user engagement

          Hello everyone, We’re excited to announce Segments in Zoho Apptics, a new way to group users based on their behavior, preferences, and app activity. With Segments, you can deliver more meaningful, timely, and relevant experiences to your users. When combined

        • How do I edit the Calendar Invite notifications for Interviews in Recruit?

          I'm setting up the Zoho Recruit Interview Calendar system but there's some notifications I don't have any control over. I've turned off all Workflows and Automations related to the Calendar Scheduling and it seems that it's the notification that is sent

        • Posibility to add Emoticons on the Email Subject of Templates

          Hi I´ve tried to add Emoticons on the Subject line of Email templates, the emoticon image does show up before saving the template or if I add the Emoticon while sending an Individual email and placing it manually on the subject line. Emoticons also show

        • Clarity on extended contract status

          Clarity on “extended” status- How does Zoho “extend” a contract?  E.g. if client extends by 1 month, can the “end date” be adjusted accordingly in Zoho and tagged as “Extended” with a clear audit trail that also captures the client’s email? Note- Email

        • Customizing contract status

          Can we customize/add/remove status on Zoho contracts ourselves or does Zoho needs to do this? Context- There is a long list of status on Zoho but not all of them are relevant for us . There are few status which are missing and needs to be added. E.g-

        • Set Custom Business Calendars and Holidays for Global Teams

          Managing a project across diverse teams means accounting for more than just tasks and deadlines; it means acknowledging how and when each team actually works. Users might follow different working days or observe region-specific holidays that cannot be

        • [Integration edition] Deluge learning series - Integrations between Zoho apps and Third-party services with Deluge | 28 August 2025

          We’re excited to welcome you to the Deluge learning series: Integration edition! The Integration edition will run for three months: Session 1 – Integrating Zoho Apps with Deluge using inbuilt integration tasks Session 2 – Integrating Zoho Apps with Deluge

        • Critical Vulnerability in all major password manager plugins - is Zoho Vault affected?

          Hi Zoho, a security researcher found a critical clickjacking vulnerability in all major browser password managers: DOM-based Extension Clickjacking: Your Password Manager Data at Risk | Marek Tóth Is Zoho Vault affected as well? Apparently the Vault extension

        • Introducing SecureForms in Zoho Vault

          Hey everyone, Let’s face it—asking someone to send over a password or other sensitive data is rarely straightforward. You wait. You nudge. You follow up once, twice—maybe more. And when the information finally arrives, it shows up in the worst possible

        • Tables from ZohoSheets remove images when updated from source

          I have a few tables from a ZohoSheet in a ZohoWriter document that will remove the images in the cells when I refresh from the source. The source still has the images in the table when I go to refresh. After updating from the source, as you can see the

        • Change eMail Template for Event-Invitations

          Hello ZOHO-CRM Team How I can change the eMail Template for Event-Invitations? I work with the German Version of the Free Version. I know how I can modify eMail alerts or Signature Templates, but where I can other eMails modify you send out? Thank you for your answer. Regards, Juerg

        • Inventory Adjustments

          Hi, How to transfer the material from one head to another ? Like materials purchased for manufacturing the laptop need to transfer from consumption inventory (Quantity of raw materials reduced) to destination inventory ( Quantity of Laptop increased)

        • Need Your Insights

          Hi Zoho, I'm confused why the flow only sends to one output. setVariable15 is from a list. It doesn't consider the 2nd entry. Any thoughts?

        • Map Dependency Fields - How can can I limit picklist values from a multi-select Parent field?

          I know the "Map Dependency Fields" feature doesn't allow a multi-select parent field. However, I need the functionality. Can I do it through a deluge function, and would it still support color coding picklists? We need the color coding for quick scanning

        • DYK 1 - Color Palette for Enhanced Visual Identification of Status

          Introducing the Did You Know series of posts. The goal of this series is to familiarize users with certain features or enhancements in Zoho Projects that may not be evident at first glance. The first post in this series deals with color palettes for indicating

        • Invalid field in the COQL query

          Dear Zoho Support! I believe that you already helped me with a similar problem a few years ago. One of my clients has a custom field named "LOB" in the "Deals" Module (see the field's metadata below). The COQL query using this field: : "select id, Deal_Name,

        • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

          Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

        • Transferring domain registration to new registrar and switching email hosting at the same time?

          I need to transfer an existing domain uv cure adhesive that's currently with SiteGround to Porkbun. I also need to move the existing custom email addresses from SiteGround to Zoho Mail. I'm not sure if I should transfer the domain first and then tackle

        • Split deposits

          Can Zoho do split deposits. One deposit, two checks for two separate invoices from different customers. This is one of the most common tasks I can imaging. When I mark the two invoices paid, there are two deposits in bank register. When I try to match,

        • Feedback: Streamlining Note Management in Zoho Notebook

          Dear Team/Support, I would like to share some feedback regarding the note management system that could help improve usability and accessibility for users like myself. Notebook 1 (screenshot attached): Currently, the system does not allow selecting and

        • Deactivate Desk Contact without Deleting Contat

          We have a client who has multiple tenants for regulatory purposes, and as such, has a few users that have email addresses in both tenants. They've then emailed into the ticketing system, so we have multiple contacts (no big deal, we want to keep their

        • Delete my store of Zoho commerce

          Hi Team, I want to delete my stores of commerce. Please help me asap. Looking for the positive response soon. Thanks Shubham Chauhan Mob: +91-9761872650

        • Ability to add VAT to Retainer Invoices

          Hello, I've had a telephone conversation a month ago with Dinesh on this topic and my request to allow for the addition of VAT on Retainer Invoices.  It's currently not possible to add VAT to Retainer Invoices and it was mutually agreed that there is absolutely no reason why there shouldn't be, especially as TAX LAW makes VAT mandatory on each invoice in Europe!   So basically, what i'm saying is that if you don't allow us to add VAT to Retainer Invoices, than the whole Retainer Invoices becomes

        • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Zoho Creator for Asset Management with AI Enhancements

          Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. Each month highlights a specific sector, and this time our focus is

        • How to set different item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books

          Item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books are in sync. If we update the Item selling price in Books, the same will happen in commerce and vice versa. I need a separate commerce selling price for online users and a separate books selling price

        • Menu Building is completely broken

          I have been 3 hours, I have not been able to edit the menu. Either it is completely broken, very little intuitive or I do now know anything... There is no way to create a megamenu, no way to create a menu. Despite the fact I go to menu configurartion

        • Can you sell Subscriptions using Zoho Commerce?

          In addition to physical products and the apparently coming soon 'Digital Products', it is possible to sell Subscriptions using Zoho Commerce?

        • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

          🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

        • Next Page