During a Sprint Planning session, the team argues about the work estimates for a particular story. - The Product Owner estimates five days. - The Lead Architect estimates two days. - The Scrum…

The correct answer is C. 7. In Scrum, estimates must come from the person who will actually perform the work - in this case, the team member who estimates 7 days. That individual has the most accurate understanding of the task's technical complexity and the effort required. Why the distractors are wrong…

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Question

During a Sprint Planning session, the team argues about the work estimates for a particular story.

The Product Owner estimates five days.
The Lead Architect estimates two days.
The Scrum Master estimates eight days.
The team member working on it estimates seven days.

What value (in days) should be used for planning?

Options

How the community answered

(29 responses)

A
7% (2)
B
3% (1)
C
79% (23)
D
10% (3)

Explanation

In Scrum, estimates must come from the person who will actually perform the work - in this case, the team member who estimates 7 days. That individual has the most accurate understanding of the task's technical complexity and the effort required.

Why the distractors are wrong:

A (2 days - Lead Architect): Architects often underestimate hands-on implementation effort; unless they are doing the work, their estimate is not authoritative.
B (5 days - Product Owner): The PO owns the what, not the how. Estimating development effort is explicitly outside their role in Scrum.
D (8 days - Scrum Master): The Scrum Master is a facilitator and servant-leader, not a developer; they should not be estimating task duration.

Memory tip: Think "The doer decides." The estimate always belongs to the person with their hands on the keyboard - if you can identify who is implementing the story, that's whose number you use.

Topics

#Sprint Planning#estimation authority#team self-organization#story sizing

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