What are Agile Story Points?

Let’s talk about story points—a tool many Scrum teams use to simplify the complex process of estimating effort and complexity for a project.

Story points aren’t about tracking hours or time spent on tasks. Instead, they represent effort, complexity, and the unknowns that might come into play. This approach is especially useful when factors like team size, productivity, or external variables are unpredictable. While you can’t always pinpoint the exact time frame for a story, story points create a flexible framework for planning and forecasting.

But here’s the thing: accurately predicting story points is key to making this system work. The best results come when your entire team collaborates on the process. Here’s how you can do it effectively:

1. Start with a baseline. Break down your project into tasks (or stories). Pick the simplest task and assign it a value of 2 story points.
2. Compare and assign. Use the baseline to evaluate the other tasks. Are they simpler, more complex, or about the same? Assign story points relative to the baseline.
3. Collaborate and vote. For each story, let the team vote on its story points value. Discuss the differences in votes to uncover why some tasks might be more challenging than others.
4. Build consensus. Take everyone’s input into account and reach an agreement on the story points before moving on to the next task.

This process ensures that the entire team has a shared understanding of the project’s complexity and effort. Over time, it also helps refine your team’s ability to estimate and set fair, motivating goals.

Story points aren’t just about estimation; they’re about alignment. When done right, they create clarity for the team and help set realistic expectations for everyone involved.

What’s your experience with story points? Do they work well for your team, or are you using a different approach? Let’s start a conversation.

Michael Achilles www.dhirubhai.net/in/michaelachilles/ @mikeachilles