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| Criterion |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  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. | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. | 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 | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-3 h | 15-60 min | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 4-10 | 2-9 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Ideal Day Estimates, Assumption Notes, Capacity Caveats | Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split Candidates |
Tagsno overlap | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | EstimationEffortAgile | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing |