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| Criterion | ![]() Agile Affinity Estimation | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Agile Ideal Days | ![]() Agile Bucket System |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | When effort needs to be thought of as real working time, it offers a simple common denominator for comparison. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as Ideal Day Estimates, Assumption Notes, and Capacity Caveats. | When a large batch of work needs a fast, rough estimate, it sorts items into predefined size buckets. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, and Split Candidates. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 45-90 min | 15-60 min | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 2-8 | 2-9 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Ideal Day Estimates, Assumption Notes, Capacity Caveats | Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split Candidates |
Tagsno overlap | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | EstimationEffortAgile | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing |



