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Are you tired of the #NoEstimates vs. estimates debate in agile development? Smart Guess Founder and Agile expert explores how the straw man fallacy is frequently used in the #NoEstimates debate, as well as in the book, and shares valuable insights on why this might be the case. 


So instead of refuting *'best practices'* for estimating, key #NoEstimates proponents using this tactic are only up to refuting the *'worst practices'*. Why, might you ask? Because that's an argument that can easily be won. In the example, we see a fictional case of how not to think about estimates. However, the real subject of the argument - how you would use estimates - was not discussed at all. So what we see here is, quoting Wikipedia's definition again:

> having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false one.

## Straw man fallacy backbone of #NoEstimates book
The same fallacy is the backbone of the #NoEstimates book. Even though the book was released in 2016, it is like the story happened in 1996. Why? Because none of the Agile best practices from 1996 - 2016 are part of the 'story case' in the beginning. So the method the book refutes is the method Winston Royce talked about back in 1970 and was later called Waterfall. Furthermore, Agile methods are used to get the project back on track. More on this in the post [Methods applied in the #NoEstimates book](https://smartguess.is/blog/methods-in-noestimates-book/).

This is not the first time the #NoEstimates proponents are using the Straw man fallacy, as can be seen by searching for ["#NoEstimates strawman" on Twitter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NoEstimates%20strawman&src=typed_query&f=top). This raises the question of why some key #NoEstimates proponents knowingly repeat false claims when they should know better?

### Why #NoEstimates proponents are knowingly making false claims?
Now, this is an interesting question. In one part, it has to do with spreading the #NoEstimates idea, selling books, and related consultancy services. Another part has a darker side, as many are trapped into believing the false claims and taking up the harmful and aggressive black-and-white stance on estimates, wasting a lot of time in unproductive arguments and causing polarization in our community.

### What's next?
In the next post, I will dive deeper into the purpose of repeating these false claims, keeping the polarization in our community rampant. The post, [Did you get caught in the #NoEstimates trap?](https://smartguess.is/blog/the-NoEstimates-trap/), shares an inconvenient truth about the methods we see used. 

**About Smart Guess** 
*We help teams educate stakeholders by providing actionable answers to common misconceptions about estimates. So more teams can use estimates to their advantage, and fewer are held accountable for delivering on impossible deadlines.*

#NoEstimates straw man fallacy

Björn Brynjar Jónsson

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