PMI-ACP practice question 7 of 35

Two teams have received project requirements and completed estimates. Team A estimates 420 story points for scope and 30 story points for velocity…

Two teams have received project requirements and completed estimates. Team A estimates 420 story points for scope and 30 story points for velocity per sprint. Team B estimates 280 story points for scope and 20 story points for velocity per sprint. Both teams have same number of team members and have an assumed sprint duration of 2 weeks. What can an agile practitioner conclude about team A and team B's estimates?

Answer options

A: Team B has underestimated scope compared to team A.

B: Team A is more confident in delivering velocity than team B.

C: Both teams need to indicate their proposed technology before the estimates can be analyzed.

D: Both teams have estimated the project to be of same size. Correct answer

Correct Answer:

D. Both teams have estimated the project to be of same size.

Explanation

Both teams have estimated 14 sprints to complete their respective projects (Team A: 420÷30=14; Team B: 280÷20=14). While they use different story point scales, the relative sizing within each team results in the same project duration estimate. Story points are relative units specific to each team, not absolute measurements. The key insight is that both teams perceive their projects will require the same number of iterations to complete.

Why Incorrect

A. Team B's lower story points don't indicate underestimation since story points are team-specific relative measures, not absolute values.
B. Velocity confidence cannot be determined from these estimates alone; the numbers only show each team's baseline velocity.
C. Technology details are not required for story point estimation as they're already factored into team-specific estimates.
3. References:
1. Cohn, M. (2005). Agile Estimating and Planning. Chapter 4: "Estimating Size with Story Points," pp. 35-38. Prentice Hall PTR.
2. Rubin, K. (2012). Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Chapter 7: "Estimation and Velocity," pp. 129-134. Addison-Wesley.
3. Sutherland, J. & Schwaber, K. (2017). The Scrum Guide. Section: "Development Team," pp. 7-8. Available at: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2017/2017-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf
4. Larman, C. & Vodde, B. (2010). Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development. Chapter 5: "Feature Teams," pp. 89-92. Addison-Wesley.
5. IEEE Computer Society (2014). Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) V3.0. Chapter 6: "Software Construction," Section 6.3.4. Available at: https://www.computer.org/education/bodies-of-knowledge/software-engineering

References

1. PMI & Agile Alliance. “Agile Practice Guide” (2017)

§4.3.2

pp. 46-47 – points unique to a team

non-comparable.

2. PMI & Agile Alliance. “Agile Practice Guide” (2017)

§4.3.4

p. 50 – velocity used to forecast number of iterations.

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