Of course, we need a joined-up view and 1 point is 1 day. Or do we? Let's hear from Pete, an Agile Coach at a large Banking Firm.
The fact is humans are terrible at estimating in time, I don't know how many times I've heard ready in 5 minutes in my life to still be standing at the door, keys in hand 20 minutes later. But in workplaces people often still find comfort in talking about something less abstract than the relative estimate, for example, time (which in itself is abstract, but that a discussion for Proust). This is a popular option when people have the battle cries of "we need consistency", "we need a way to compare teams", and "how do we know how much to charge?". Unfortunately due to funding models in places I have worked, 1 point = 1 day very much became a reality and once it was in, it was very hard to shake. If you are forced down this route, then I'd suggest that there are bigger systemic problems that need to be addressed.
As stated above I have seen this approach proposed for a multitude of reasons and each time there had to be a push back. It is really important to educate against one size must fit all and push to compare teams against each other based on points delivered. The estimates that a team makes are unique to that team and the journey they have gone on to understand the challenge at hand, share knowledge and gain consistency together. 5 points to one team could easily mean 15 to another, and that's fine, it's all relative. The one statement that I have succumbed to before however that led to a 1 point = 1 day is funding.
This approach doesn't work for a number of reasons. You are being pushed into sticking your finger in the air, picking a number, and sticking to it. But technology deliveries are seldom that simple and there are a number of complexities and challenges you'll face along the way. Building up as a team a relative estimation approach that matures as your knowledge grows and allows you to revisit, re-estimate, and understand your velocity allows you to project with confidence progress based on today's understanding of the task. Picking a number, in this case charging a fee, and not being able to re-visit your understanding of how long something might take puts you in a corner from day one and will 9 times out of 10 lead to missed timelines, frustration, and disappointment. You might as well just draw up a GANT chart and be done with it. But hear this now, that date and those days are going to start creeping right.
So get those stories broken down into achievable working deliveries and break out the planning poker cards, we are going to estimate as a team, we can understand the time aspect once we understand our team.
As no-one ever said in music...1,2,3,5,8,13,21...hit it.
Have a look at what other options that could have been explored: