T-Shirt Sizing
A lightweight relative estimation technique where backlog items are sized using T-shirt sizes (XS through XL) instead of story points or hours. It removes the false precision of numeric estimation, encourages discussion about relative effort, and works especially well for early-stage roadmap planning when details are unclear.
Comment l'animer
- 1
Establish anchor items first: find one item that is clearly 'M' (medium) and one that is 'S'. Use these as reference points.
- 2
Present backlog items one at a time.
- 3
Each team member silently picks a T-shirt size and reveals simultaneously (to avoid anchoring bias).
- 4
If consensus: move on. If disagreement: the outliers explain their reasoning briefly, then re-estimate.
- 5
Record the agreed size against each item.
- 6
After the session, optionally map sizes to story points: XS=1, S=2, M=5, L=8, XL=13.
Conseils
Use T-Shirt Sizing for epics and features. Use Planning Poker for sprint-level stories.
Disagreement is signal — two people with very different sizes have different mental models. That's worth a 2-minute discussion.
Don't let the session become about hours. It's about relative complexity.
Keep a 'parking lot' for items that generate repeated disagreement — they need splitting.
Variantes
Bucket System: place items in buckets (XS, S, M, L, XL) rather than estimating one by one — much faster for large backlogs (50+ items). Animal Sizing: some teams use animals (mouse=XS, elephant=XL) to further remove numeric anchoring.
Contextes d'utilisation
Méthodes associées
Questions fréquemment posées
Quand utiliser T-Shirt Sizing ?â–¾
Utilisez T-Shirt Sizing lorsque vous souhaitez: Roadmap planning; Epic sizing; Early-stage estimation; Agile teams.
Combien de temps dure T-Shirt Sizing ?â–¾
T-Shirt Sizing dure généralement 30–90 minutes.
Pour combien de participants T-Shirt Sizing convient-il ?â–¾
T-Shirt Sizing fonctionne mieux pour des groupes de 3–12 participants.
De quels matériaux ai-je besoin pour T-Shirt Sizing ?▾
Pour animer T-Shirt Sizing, vous aurez besoin de : Backlog items (printed or on screen), T-shirt size cards: XS, S, M, L, XL (optionally XXL).
Quel est le niveau de difficulté de T-Shirt Sizing ?▾
FacilitationMethods.faqA5Easy
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