Obviously in this system the winning move is to take all the low-point efforts. We all know that 5 "minor cosmetic change" (1 point) and "small functional change like adding a new field to an existing form" (2 points) are MUCH, MUCH less effort than 1 "New feature with some additional complications. Eg: Reusable “customer-create-or-lookup” UI component". This new feature, in most/all stacks, should be valued at at least 50 points.
This assessment even ignores the other strategies a developer might follow like "minimizing regret". Failing a 1 point effort in 1h has essentially no consequences. Failing a 1-month 50 point effort ... do that twice and you're fired.
This rewards dumbed down, no-risk development. I've seen many teams work like this. Don't rock the boat, look busy, get promoted to management. Spend your time talking about looking busy with all the other ex-development managers who do the same.
Managers always come up with the next system that doesn't require them being the most knowledgeable person when it comes to what they're doing. I've never seen it keep working a significant amount of time.
What we need is a betting system. Each engineer will do a hidden bet where they'll bet the least amount of points they are willing to work on for a given task. The engineer with least points will get the task. It will be done until all engineer's capacity for the sprint is supposedly filled.
This assessment even ignores the other strategies a developer might follow like "minimizing regret". Failing a 1 point effort in 1h has essentially no consequences. Failing a 1-month 50 point effort ... do that twice and you're fired.
This rewards dumbed down, no-risk development. I've seen many teams work like this. Don't rock the boat, look busy, get promoted to management. Spend your time talking about looking busy with all the other ex-development managers who do the same.
Managers always come up with the next system that doesn't require them being the most knowledgeable person when it comes to what they're doing. I've never seen it keep working a significant amount of time.