Estimates

Show how much effort each issue will take.

Overview

Use estimates to describe the complexity or size of an issue. Cycles and projects use estimates to calculate effort and related statistics. You'll opt into estimates on a team level as well as choose which estimate scale to use.

Configure

Go to Team Settings > General to enable estimations. Teams can use different estimate scales and configurations, even if they're working together on the same project. Select the scale and range from the options below.

Basics

Add, edit, or remove estimates

Add estimates when creating or updating issues with the keyboard shortcut Shift E. The same keyboard shortcut can be used to edit or remove the estimate.

Filter for estimates

Find issues with specific point values by filtering for estimates. The shortcut F will open the filter menu and you can select estimates from there. This is especially helpful when creating custom views and searching through the backlog.

Analytics

When you see the word effort, that refers to estimate. When estimates are not enabled, we calculate statistics using a default value of 1 estimate point per issue. T-shirt estimates map to the Fibonacci scale.

If you've enabled estimates, we'll use the estimate values to calculate percentage completion and effort in cycle and project graphs. The top bars on most views will show the total issues count or total estimate value next to the view's name. Hover over the number to see both values.

Zero estimates

Allow zero estimates by toggling this option on in estimate settings. By default, we count unestimated issues as one point but you can disable this in estimate settings as well.

Extended estimate scales

Enable the extended scale to add two additional values to your scale.

Pro Tip: When estimates are too large, refine issue scope
Larger estimates usually mean that there is uncertainty about the issue's complexity. We find that breaking up issues into smaller ones is the best approach.