Q of the Week: In large scale estimation, who should estimate the product backlog items?

Estimates should always be done by the people who will be doing the work. You should only estimate if you are a developer in the team that will be doing the work. This applies to Epics, Features, User Stories, or any other type of product backlog item. The “Epic-level” items should be decomposed into smaller chunks that each team can estimate on their own. The estimates from each team can then be added to arrive at a large-scale estimate of the Epic. In Scrum@Scale, this process creates a two-way street where items are decomposed by the Chief Product Owners, while estimates are provided by the people who will be doing the work.