Relative Estimation

An estimation approach where work items are sized in comparison to each other rather than in absolute terms like hours or days. Instead of saying 'this task will take 6 hours,' a team using relative estimation says 'this story is about twice as complex as that one.' Story points are the most common unit for relative estimation. The approach leverages human cognition's strength at making comparative judgments while acknowledging our weakness at predicting absolute durations. Planning poker facilitates relative estimation by having all team members simultaneously reveal their relative size comparisons, preventing anchoring bias and surfacing hidden assumptions through divergent estimates.