You shouldn't be talking about hours at all. Points and team velocity help to account for all the overhead in a sprint. Once a team has a consistent velocity, they can talk about items in retro to speed up that velocity (drop a meeting, etc...).
I once had a manager who tried to break tasks down into 15 minute increments. There was a task that he argued was a 15 minute task. And yes, he was right assuming my computer was open, the right editor was up, the right project was pulled and up to date, the project was properly building, there were no updates to apply, and the list goes on.
Hours is just a bad way to plan. Unfortunately those who bill by hour are forced to plan that way.
And don't get me started on measuring velocity, especially across teams. Your environment sounds like its poisoned by middle management.
Anyway, thank God I left, but from what I hear from other mates in the industry it's not better in other companies in my area since they're all run by middle managers.
Maybe it's a problem specific to Germany where managers are always right and their authority is unquestionable.
> Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
> Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
If either of these requirements are not met, you're not being agile.