Your agile project has been using relative estimation with story points for six months. A new senior stakeholder joins and demands to know exactly when specific features will be delivered, expressing frustration with 'vague agile estimates.' They insist the team provide hour-based estimates and commit to fixed delivery dates for features, stating that their previous projects always worked this way successfully. The team's velocity has been stable at 30-35 points per sprint, and they have a well-groomed backlog. The stakeholder threatens to escalate to executive leadership if you cannot provide 'real project management.' How should you respond?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is A. Option A is correct because it addresses the stakeholder's underlying need (predictability for planning) while maintaining agile principles. Using empirical data (velocity) with probabilistic forecasting provides more accurate predictions than false precision from hour estimates, and educates the stakeholder on evidence-based planning (aligned with People domain stakeholder engagement practices). This approach demonstrates professional project management adapted to complexity. Option B is the main distractor—creating parallel estimation systems wastes time and the conversion from story points to hours reintroduces the problems relative estimation solved (variability, precision bias, estimation overhead). It also doesn't actually improve forecast accuracy. Option C commits to dates without accounting for uncertainty, setting up future credibility problems when reality differs from estimates. Option D may help with trust but doesn't directly address the stakeholder's request for delivery forecasts, leaving the conflict unresolved.

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