Revising estimates? Can JIRA (or plugins) support an original/custom points estimation field?

Matt Sullivan March 7, 2018

We estimate in points at the beginning of a release cycle then use the version report to (successfully) forecast progress towards the release. These estimates are based on very brief analysis and are quite inconsistent, but ultimately average out.

My team is unhappy tracking velocity and making sprint commitments based on these estimates. As we prepare for upcoming sprints we do much better analysis and could make better estimates. However, I'm mindful of the warnings from Estimating an issue and do not want updated estimates to impact release forecasting.

Does JIRA server (or any plugins) have any way to track/report on two different estimation values?

I'm thinking about configuring the board to track hours remaining and entering detailed estimates in that field. The team could then make commitments based on that number, however I don't see any reports that show how many of the 'remaining estimate' hours were completed in a sprint. (Not surprising since it seems like nonsense to measure velocity in hours/sprint.)

Alternately I could use a custom field to store an original estimate in points, but I'd then need a replacement for the velocity & version reports based on the original estimate field. I'm sure I could do this in Power BI, or write a plugin but I'd prefer something that works out of the box.


How do other teams manage improved estimates? Surely we're not alone in the temptation to re-estimate after detailed analysis or the desire for more confident sprint commitments.

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