In 20 years in soft. dev. industry I tried almost everything to improve estimates: delphi, planning poker, various formal techniques, points and estimation by c

In 20 years in soft. dev. industry I tried almost everything to improve estimates: delphi, planning poker, various formal techniques, points and estimation by compare, etc. Here are my rules. 1. In general I found that for rough estimate you can just multiply by 2 for a very experienced developer, by e (2.7...) for a developer with less domain expertise and by pi (~3) for an unexperienced developer. 2. If you need more precise estimates, then: 2a. do discuss every feature/story in depth, since it provides various opinions and help to find unexpected problems 2b. don't use points. Days are more reliable unit 2c. break down every feature to stories and every story to tasks. More granular items -> better estimates That is it.