Story points
Story points estimate the relative size of a user story.
They consider:
- effort,
- complexity,
- uncertainty,
- technical risk,
- dependencies.
Story points do not directly mean hours or days.
A 5-point story is expected to be larger or more uncertain than a 3-point story, but it does not necessarily take exactly five hours or five days.
Fibonacci scale
use the Fibonacci-style sequence:
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
The gaps become larger because uncertainty increases with larger work.
| Points | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Very small, clear, little risk |
| 2 | Small and well understood |
| 3 | Moderate effort |
| 5 | Larger, some complexity or uncertainty |
| 8 | Complex, risky, or dependent on other work |
| 13 | Very large or unclear; may need to be split |
Example
For the Cart and Checkout feature:
| User story | Possible estimate | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Remove an item from the cart | 2 | Small, clear behavior |
| Update item quantity | 3 | Includes validation and total recalculation |
| Apply a promo code | 5 | Requires business rules and error handling |
| Complete checkout | 8 | Multiple steps and cross-team dependencies |
| Build the complete cart-and-checkout flow | 13 | Too broad; should probably be split |
Planning poker
Planning poker is a collaborative estimation technique.
Each team member privately chooses a Fibonacci card for the story. Everyone reveals their estimate at the same time.
Process
- The Product Owner explains the user story and acceptance criteria.
- Team members ask questions.
- The team discusses effort, complexity, uncertainty, and dependencies.
- Each member privately selects a point value.
- Everyone reveals their value simultaneously.
- The highest and lowest estimators explain their reasoning.
- The team discusses the differences.
- Everyone estimates again.
- The process continues until the team reaches consensus or close agreement.
- The final estimate is recorded in Jira.
Example planning-poker discussion
Story:
As a customer, I want to apply a promotional code so that I can receive a discount.
Initial estimates:
- User A: 3
- User B: 5
- User C: 8
- User D: 5
Discussion:
- The User choosing 3 assumed only one simple code.
- The User choosing 8 considered expiration dates, usage limits, invalid codes, and payment integration.
- After reviewing the acceptance criteria, the team agrees that the story has more complexity than first assumed.
Final estimate:
5 story points
Important teaching points
- Story points are assigned by the team, not only by the Product Owner.
- Planning poker is not a simple average.
- The goal is shared understanding, not mathematical precision.
- A large disagreement often reveals hidden assumptions.
- A 13-point story should usually be reviewed and possibly divided into smaller stories.
- Teams should not compare their story-point scale with another team’s scale.
Teaching line
Fibonacci gives the team an estimation scale. Planning poker gives the team a method for reaching a shared estimate.
REF: AI Tools/ChatGPT
