Original estimate - no in-edit option

Question

Hi,

One of the things people like to do is get into an issue, and change/add time estimates.

This can be done from the "edit" screen, it can be done from the details screen of the board, but not doable on the issue screen itself

Anything I am missing or anyone else had this issue? is there a reason for that?

Ron Grosberg · Answer

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the answer,

I will have to disagree here, you can change the estimation either form the edit menu or by doing "log work" and then changing the remaining estimate, so it is not a matter of methodology, from my point of view it's just a matter of not fully understanding the way some people work.

Regarding when an estimation occurs, it is best if you can estimate an issue before it is in the sprint, but sometimes some issues are very complex and only estimating the effort it will really take takes a few days, and creating a specific issue to estimate another issue will really clutter the board and is super cumbersome. in addition sometimes people estimate issues, and then after working on them understand that the issue is much larger than originally thought, and seldom they even find that it is much easier,  so the ability to do so is very much required.

You should also consider that many (including both companies I worked for) do not use scrum to the full extent, and actually do not have a scum master, so estimates are being done by team leaders and developers themselves, and we use it for tracking the progress of a project and whether we meet our goals or not, so not changing estimations will create false expectations....

Andy Heinzer · Answer

Hi Ron,

Estimations are an integral part of tracking velocity, which is a key metric of using the Scrum methodology.  As such, I believe this is by design.  Since Jira Software users are the only ones that have access to the Board itself, it makes more sense that this is the location where estimations could be managed.

Since it's possible that Jira Core users can still see these issues, but not the board itself, it seems like this is a compromise in regards to letting these other licensed Jira users still interact with the issue, but not expect them to make changes to the estimations themselves.  I'd recommend checking out our guide in Estimating an Issue  for more information on estimations in Jira.  Ideally the estimation of issues is expected to happen when the issue are in the backlog before the sprint begins.

Changing the estimates after a sprint has started isn't really a great idea as it tend to skew the reporting metrics.  But I have seen other environments were users are very concerned if the time it takes to compete a task is vastly different than the original estimate.  In cases like that they seemed to think it was a good idea to change those estimates.  But in actually, I think it would be better to leave those alone.  The goal of the scrum master to try to get better as time goes on (and several sprints are run) in regards to estimating bodies of work. In my view, estimations are not meant to be an exact science. I like to think of it more as an art-form.  There are lots of complexities to potentially consider when trying to estimate issues, such as knowing your team, understanding the work involved, and knowing your limits.

I hope this helps explain the behavior a bit more.

Andy