
User Stories and Tasks – Part 4
Relative Mass Valuation
This technique is ideal when there is a large list of items that need to be estimated, usually when a team is at the initial stages of adopting the agile values and principles, and the product backlog has just been put together for the first time. With this approach, each item isn’t sized individually. Instead, the team take each story, one at a time, and place it into a new list in order of size. So the first story gets transferred over, then the second story is compared to the first, and placed before it if it is smaller, or after it if it is larger. Then the third item is slotted in wherever it fits size wise, and so on until the whole list has been evaluated.
Estimating at the Task Level
Following the explanation of story points above, one might think that there is no place for estimating the time required to complete a task in Scrum. However, this is not the case. The distinction lies in the granularity of the piece of work that is being estimated, and the point in the cycle at which we are carrying out the estimation. Story sizing happens during the high-level planning stages, and it represents the productivity of the whole team.
At the beginning of the iteration, once the stories to be completed within the cycle have been selected, each story should be broken down into the specific tasks that are necessary for the story to be produced. Every task should then be assigned to an individual, and it is at this stage that the individual to whom the task has been assigned should give an estimate of the time they think it will take to complete.
Story Tracking
After the stories have been estimated and the team has started working on them, the Scrum Master must keep track of how each individual task is progressing.
59 Seconds Training Video
Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)
Introductory Offer: Free Course
Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)
What is this course?
This ‘Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)’ provides an in-depth understanding of the Agile Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities
You will explore the Agile Scrum project life-cycle, including how an Agile User Story is created, to how we know when it is ‘done’
This course is aimed at those with or without prior knowledge and experience of the Agile values and principles
During this course you will learn the tools needed to succeed as an Agile Scrum Developer
What will you learn?
You will gain an in-depth understanding of the Agile Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities, and you will be able to
- Fully understand the role of the Agile Scrum Developer
- Understand the roles involved in an Agile project
- Create an effective Product Backlog
- Effectively participate in Scrum Meetings such as the Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review and Retrospective
- Identify the roles involves in the Scrum Team

What topics are covered within this course
You will cover the following topics during this course:
- An Introduction to Agile Project Management (Developer)
- The 12 Agile Principles (Developer)
- Introduction to Scrum (Developer)
- Scrum Project Roles (Developer)
- The Agile Project Life-cycle (Developer)
- Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog (Developer)
- Initiating an Agile Project (Developer)
- Forming the Scrum Team (Developer)
- Epics and Personas (Developer)
- User Stories and Tasks (Developer)
- Implementation of Scrum (Developer)
- The Daily Scrum (Developer)
- The Product Backlog (Developer)
- Scrum Charts (Developer)
- Review and Retrospective (Developer)
- Validating a Sprint (Developer)
- Retrospective Sprint (Developer)
- Releasing the Product (Developer)
- The Communication Plan (Developer)
- Formal Business Sign-off (Developer)
Our Book Recommendations
We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum: