Before I start, as I will be talking about different work experiences, I need to state all my opinions are my own. They do not represent the opinions of my current or past employers.
That being said now let me begin.
What:
When I was first introduced to the concept of #NoEstimates I was a mid-level developer and thought that it was a wacky idea that could never work. Later, still a mid-level developer, I decided that working with estimates was stupid. Then I grew up and learned that the world was not black and white. I listened to what @WoodyZuill had to say and tried to understand the meaning.
Experimentation:
My first experiences with trying #NoEstimates had nothing to do with Woody. I worked in a small company that hired me to take over a legacy VB.Net v1 project which had failed so badly they fired the whole team. They had no source control despite having 13 versions of the application deployed, and only one copy of official source code that didn’t match any of the deployed versions. I hired a new team, we focused on bug fixes that were discreet, understandable and easily repeatable.
We gave no promises and made #NoEstimates. We focused on discovering value, by giving users fixes to things that were easily understandable. Within 3 months not only did we have source control, but we managed to reduce the number of variant applications and we were deploying every week. We had moved beyond bug fixes.
We were so successful, that the company sold in under 2 years. The CEO was able to retire, based on the value we delivered. We did this entirely without estimates.
Tutelage:
Later, I got to experience #NoEstimates in a completely different way. The team I was part of worked on custom line of business applications. We often produced software for different departments within the company. Here we focused on changing discussions that were given to us. We always asked: what is one thing that if we gave it to you now would make your life better? Then we tried to understand that enough to figure out something that is discrete, understandable and has a clear definition.
Once we did that, we would work to deliver it. Once it was delivered, we would follow up with the users to see that it met their need. If it didn’t we changed it. When the need was met correctly, we were told what the next need was.
That is how we worked. The company never had worry about interrupting us, because our deliverables ended up taking less than a couple of days on average. This was not a precondition, or intentional. It happened because of how we isolated something to work on. Occasionally it would take significantly longer. That was ok also because it meant that there were more unknowns in that piece.
So What:
#NoEstimates as I have witnessed it accomplishes two things. The first is it moves authority to make business decisions to the current point in time. By delaying the act of what has priority, to the last responsible minute the business is better able to cope with business as it is.
The second benefit is that it places business decisions in the hands of those who have the knowledge to make the decision. I always say that programmers are business people who have not been correctly trained in business. I say that because every line of code is a decision about how the company does business. By focusing on discrete deliverable chunks and using those chunks to measure value/need, a lot more of the decision of what goes into the application goes to those who are responsible for the business.
Now What:
#NoEstimates is the beginning, not the answer. There is a lot more exploration that can happen out there. Let’s focus on improving how we do business, and share our successes and failures. Eventually we will always find better.