Accurately assessing workload: mission impossible? 🚀 Not at all… if you use the right method!
📌 3 approaches that make a difference:
1. Direct estimation by team members
After identifying a task, the team member in question estimates the time required for it.
Advantages: simple, empowering, quick.
Disadvantages: depends on individual experience. The risk is mitigated by conducting a group assessment.
2. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique)
This involves estimating the average time required per task, based on three scenarios: 1. Optimistic / 2. Pessimistic / 3. Most likely.
The estimation calculation is done as follows:
• Average time = (1 x most optimistic time + 4 x most likely time + 1 x most pessimistic time), all divided by 6.
If you regularly perform similar tasks, you can use the actual times to modify the formula to obtain a more precise estimate.
For example, if you have performed the same type of task 10 times, once in 4 days, 6 times in 5 days, and 3 times in 6 days, you have a history that allows you to modify the formula as follows:
• Average time = (1 x most optimistic time + 6 x most likely time + 3 x most pessimistic time), all divided by 10.
Advantages: very effective for complex projects with uncertainties.
Disadvantages: complex to implement and requires reliable data.
3. Planning Poker
The goal of planning poker is to collectively assess the complexity of tasks by assigning them points using a deck of cards.
The cards have the values 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, and 100 (Fibonacci sequence), allowing each person to evaluate the complexity of a task.
This evaluation is non-linear, as the more complex a development, the more flexibility is needed in its execution.
A sprint can only contain a limited number of complexity points: this is the team’s velocity.
In conclusion, in agile methodologies, the workload assessed is the entire sprint. This is a collective workload assessed for a team, not individual by individual.
Advantages: Provides a relative view of tasks. Promotes collaboration. Leverages the team’s velocity to predict future capacity. Allows for adapting work along the way based on evolving client needs.
📌 Key takeaway
• Choosing the right method depends on the type of project, the team’s maturity, and the level of uncertainty.
• Regardless of the method chosen, involving employees in the estimation process fosters buy-in and accountability.
Regarding the importance of accurately assessing workload, I encourage you to read the article “Plan Your Teams’ Workload to Enable Their Success!”