Planning Poker helps, but a few caveats must be recognized:
Some people have little, or no, idea the effort required for a task. Fair enough, just don't base plans on known ignorance. Compelling them to vote is silly.
Some people have differing notions of "done". One self-appointed hotshot may be able to crash thru the code and make something run happy path in a few hours and thus gives a low estimate, but unlike others fails to account for ripple effects, breakage, documentation, consulting with others, etc. Are votes for "it works"? or "everything related is completed"?
All too often outliers are right, but dismissed because they're outliers and given just a few impromptu seconds to explain complex nuances why they're right and the disinterested opposition is wrong. Subsequent "I told you so"s much farther down the road are disheartening, and kept quiet as the opposition still doesn't see the connection nor want to.
Again, make sure the estimate includes all related work. Implementation may be quick; integration testing or documentation may be long. Don't give something a 3 to do and ignore the additional 5 needed for ripple effects.
THe team quickly learns what everybody is going to say for each part of the estimate, and they all throw down the same card. Nobody wants to spend any more time in the meeting, and throwing down an outlier means thinking hard and explaining yourself.
Some people have little, or no, idea the effort required for a task. Fair enough, just don't base plans on known ignorance. Compelling them to vote is silly.
Some people have differing notions of "done". One self-appointed hotshot may be able to crash thru the code and make something run happy path in a few hours and thus gives a low estimate, but unlike others fails to account for ripple effects, breakage, documentation, consulting with others, etc. Are votes for "it works"? or "everything related is completed"?
All too often outliers are right, but dismissed because they're outliers and given just a few impromptu seconds to explain complex nuances why they're right and the disinterested opposition is wrong. Subsequent "I told you so"s much farther down the road are disheartening, and kept quiet as the opposition still doesn't see the connection nor want to.
Again, make sure the estimate includes all related work. Implementation may be quick; integration testing or documentation may be long. Don't give something a 3 to do and ignore the additional 5 needed for ripple effects.