What are Story Points and how to work with them?

Amit Sinha

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum Certified

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum CertifiedStory points measure the estimated effort needed to complete a work item, serving as a standard unit of measurement for comparing and estimating different items. They help teams plan and prioritize work more effectively by providing a better understanding of the overall effort required for a project or sprint.

Story points' actual values are not important when estimating work; what matters is the relative values assigned to each item. Different teams may use different value sequences, but the ratio between the values is key. By focusing on relative values, teams can get a more accurate estimate of effort for each work item.

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum Certified

According to Mike Cohn, Story points allow teams with different skill levels to collaborate and reach a consensus on estimates. They avoid disagreements by focusing on the relative effort required for each item, instead of debating individual team member's completion time for a task. By using story points, teams establish a shared understanding of the effort needed for each work item.

"How to Calculate Story Points in Agile Projects"

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum Certified

The primary definition of story points is that they measure the amount of effort required to develop a user story or product backlog item. Effort is synonymous with time and is determined by several factors, such as the quantity of work, the intricacy or complexity of the work, human factors and any potential risks or uncertainties involved.

When estimating with story points, the complexity, effort, risk, and volume all come into play. However, in the end, the story points provide an estimate of the required effort.

Let's explore how each factor influences the story point estimation. Below are examples provided for each factor to help with understanding.

 

Quantity/Amount of work

Let's consider the case of two user stories for a software application. The first user story involves creating a simple login page with just one field for entering the username and password. The second user story involves creating a more complex user profile page that allows users to upload a profile picture, update personal information, and view past transactions.

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum Certified

Although the login page is simple, there is still work to be done in creating the backend logic for authentication and storing user information securely. On the other hand, the user profile page involves more complex features that require additional backend and frontend development effort.

Therefore, the user profile page should be given more story points to reflect the additional effort required to develop it. It may not necessarily be assigned double the story points of the login page, but the ratio should reflect the approximate relative effort required.

 

Work intricacy/complexity

Now let's say the login page needs to have additional functionality, such as the ability for users to reset their passwords. This functionality requires the development team to create a new page that guides users through the password reset process.

The password reset page is more complex than the login page, as it requires additional logic to ensure that users can successfully reset their passwords. Additionally, there may be more risk involved if the password reset process is not implemented correctly, as users may become frustrated and abandon the application if they cannot reset their passwords easily

Given the added complexity and risk, the password reset page should be assigned more story points than the login page. However, the relative number of story points assigned should still approximately reflect the difference in effort required between the two pages, allowing team members to effectively communicate and agree on estimates.

Risk, Uncertainty

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum CertifiedWhen estimating story points for a product backlog item, the amount of risk and uncertainty should be taken into account. For example, if a team is asked to estimate a login page feature and the requirements are unclear or not fully understood, this uncertainty should be reflected in the estimate.

Another factor to consider is the potential risk involved in implementing certain features. For instance, if the login page requires integration with a third-party authentication service that the team has no prior experience with, there is a higher risk of unexpected challenges or delays. This risk should also be reflected in the story point estimate.

In summary, when assigning story points to a product backlog item, it is important to consider any risks or uncertainties involved in its implementation. This can help ensure more accurate estimates and better planning for the team.

Combining all three factors into a single effort estimate can be challenging, but it provides a more accurate estimate for sprint planning.

What about the definition of done?

Agile and scrum master, scrum training, agile training, servant leadership, Scrum Certification, Agile Certification, Scrum CertifiedIt's essential to remember that a story point estimate must encompass all the work required to complete a product backlog item, including those necessary to meet the definition of done. For example, if a team's definition of done includes developing and running automated tests to verify that the story has been implemented correctly, then the effort required to create and run these tests should be taken into account when estimating story points.

Incorporating the effort needed to satisfy the definition of done into the estimate helps ensure that the team can meet its commitments and that the product backlog item is fully complete at the end of the sprint. This also helps to avoid any last-minute surprises that could impact the team's ability to deliver high-quality work.

 

Human Factor – The Importance of Conversations in Agile Estimating

Agile estimating requires conversations to achieve accurate and reliable story point estimates. Despite using story points as a method of estimation, team members may initially disagree on the effort required for a particular product backlog item.

Conversations during estimation allow for exploration of acceptance criteria, approaches, and other factors that impact the effort required to complete the item. These discussions increase the team's understanding of the work and can highlight assumptions and gaps that the product owner can investigate.

Planning poker is a recommended method for agile estimation, as it ensures individual estimates are kept private until all team members reveal their cards. This approach reduces bias in the numbers and results in more accurate estimates. It also increases conversations and helps bond the team members. 

I have seen time and again, that, initially reluctant (siloed) team members start to enjoy estimating together and appreciating each other’s work and eventually begin to swarm to help each other as they become better at understanding different work the team takes

Strong Servant Leadership and Scrum Mastery enable this journey. The human factor is therefore essential and must not be overlooked.

After the team has agreed on an estimate, they assign story points to the backlog item. This estimate is later used to calculate the team's sprint velocity, capacity, sprint commitment, predictability and other metrics.

Understanding that story points represent effort, considering the amount of work, complexity, and any risk or uncertainty in the work, is critical for accurate estimation.

 

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Enter E-mail Address

We promise to keep your email address safe. You can check our Privacy Policy.

Scrum Trainer: Eric Rapin
RECOMMENDED BY FORTUNE 100 CUSTOMERS. Taught by a Silicon Valley Technology Executive. Perfect 5-Star Google Rating by Students – “Eric is very knowledgeable in Agile methodology and is a great story teller. He kept the class captivated!”

Virtual CSPO (VCSPO) - FAQ

Agenda

The Certified Scrum Product Owner Workshop® is divided into 4 Sprints and covers the following topics:

Sprint 1

  • The Product Owner Role
  • Product Vision
Sprint 2
  • Testing Your Vision
  • Bias and Decision Making
Sprint 3
  • Validated Learning
  • Customer Development/Lean Startup
  • Designing Experiments
Sprint 4
  • Roadmapping using Innovation Games
  • User Stories and Customer empathy
  • User Story Mapping
Other topics often get covered such as:
  • Brief review of Scrum and recent changes
  • Estimation and Planning
  • Definition of Ready/Definition of Done
  • Leadership Style
  • Antipatterns of Agile and Scrum Adoption
  • ...and topics that emerge during the workshop.

Course

Learn Scrum by using Scrum. This two-day interactive workshop is run using Scrum. This certification masters the product view of Agile. Create a product vision, build a roadmap, discover your biases, test your assumptions, validate your choices, and deliver exceptional results for your customers

Become a Certified Scrum Product Owner® by attending this well-crafted and engaging workshop taught by a seasoned trainer. This course isn’t just for Product Owners and benefits anyone in your organization who regularly works with a Product Owner, helps refine the Product Backlog, or is generally involved with helping define what the right thing for their customer needs to be.

Using the latest tools, the workshop is designed to keep you engaged and provide a high-quality, remote learning experience.

The workshop incorporates Agile and Scrum values, principles, and practices throughout to reinforce the learning. Using real-world examples plus theory, you will leave with practical tools to help you improve your Product Ownership game.

Upon course completion you gain a two-year Scrum Alliance Membership and become a Certified Scrum Product Owner®.

To ensure the best possible learning experience, workshop enrollment is limited to 25 students only.

Who should attend

This Certified Scrum Product Owner® Workshop by the Scrum Alliance is beneficial for product leaders, strategists, designers, business analysts, and team leads who work on creating product strategy, create requirements, or are responsible for helping prioritize a team’s (teams?) work.  Whether products are targeted for consumers, businesses, internal users, this course will enable more effective product practices.

 

This includes:

  • Product Management
  • Business Analysis
  • Design and User Experience
  • Marketing
  • Executives and Management
  • Technology Leadership
  • Architecture
  • Program and Project Management
  • You?

About the Trainer - Eric Rapin

Eric Rapin, Certified Scrum Trainer® has taught thousands in a wide variety of industries including software product development, where he spent the majority of his career, but also to organizations in banking, finance, insurance, pharma/biotech, hardware storage, non-profits, IT infrastructure teams and many others. Eric has received positive feedback for how he facilitates his remote training, improved from 100+ remote training workshops over 2000+ hours. Eric has played a variety of roles including 15 years in management positions. His experience includes many Fortune 100 companies such as Adobe, Apple, Sun Microsystems with years of managing global software development teams around the world.

Zoom Requirements, Etiquette and Miscellaneous Information

Live-Online Requirements
To participate in the online course, you'll need the following:

  • A quiet, comfortable place to be for the duration of the class
    • Choose an area without distractions
    • Be mindful of managing potential interruptions (e.g. children, pets, etc).
  • Computer (desktop, laptop, or tablet)
  • Camera and microphone (we'll have virtual breakout rooms)
  • Headset to filter out room noise
  • Internet connectivity
  • Ability to download the workbook

Attendance
We ask that you participate like you would if you were in class.

  • Punctual arrival
  • Full attention and participation (video is required)
  • Committed to full, 100% attendance and participation during class time
  • Attendees must participate in both two days of class.
    Instructors are unable to certify students who miss more than one hour of class. If you anticipate that you may miss more than one hour, please contact your instructor in advance to discuss your situation and determine if rescheduling the class is the best option.

Engagement

  • Breaks – The course will include frequent breaks to allow time away from the screen, time to stretch your legs, and check on friends/family.
  • Video Required – You'll be working with others in video breakout rooms. It's a unique way to engage with your classmates and dive deeper into discussions.
  • Tools – Our coaches have incorporated easy-to-use websites and online collaboration tools to support their lessons.

PDU and SEU Credits
This course provides 16 SEUs of the 70 needed for the Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) certification. This course also earns 16 PMI PDUs and 16 needed for the PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification and PMP certification.

Frequently asked Questions

  • Where can I contact the organizer with any questions about the course?
    Please email all questions by contacting Support here
  • Is my registration/ticket transferrable?
    Yes. Attendees are allowed one transfer, but it must be to the same class type and can only be transferred for the next upcoming class.
  • Do you offer group discounts?
    Yes! We are happy to accommodate large groups and encourage full teams to sign up. Contact us information@agilonomics.com for more information on discount pricing.

Scrum Trainer: Eric Rapin
RECOMMENDED BY FORTUNE 100 CUSTOMERS. Taught by a Silicon Valley Technology Executive. Perfect 5-Star Google Rating by Students – “Eric is very knowledgeable in Agile methodology and is a great story teller. He kept the class captivated!”

Virtual CSM (VCSM)- FAQ

Agenda

The Certified Scrum Master Workshop® is divided into 4 Sprints and covers the following topics:

Sprint 1

  • Introduce the Scrum
  • Structure of the Workshop Agile Values and Observable Behaviors
  • Agile Principles and Identifying
  • Challenges Applying Them
Sprint 2
  • Scrum in the Real World
  • Scrum Definition and Values
  • Scrum Roles and Defining Responsibilities
Sprint 3
  • Scrum Artifacts and Events and Designing
  • Effective Ones
  • Introduce the Simulation
Sprint 4
  • Simulation to practice Scrum
  • History of Scrum
Other topics often get covered such as:
  • Estimation and Planning
  • User Stories
  • Definition of Ready
  • Leadership Style Antipatterns of Agile and Scrum Adoption
  • ...and topics that emerge during the workshop.

Course

Learn Scrum by using Scrum. This two-day interactive workshop is run using Scrum and you also get to experience Scrum through a fun simulation.

Become a Certified Scrum Master® by attending this well-crafted and engaging workshop taught by a seasoned trainer. This course isn’t just for Scrum Masters and benefits anyone in your organization who needs a solid foundation in Scrum and Agile. It’s also a great refresher if you’ve been practicing Scrum for a while and want to come up-to-date on any improvements to Scrum.

Using the latest tools, the workshop is designed to keep you engaged and provide a high-quality, remote learning experience.

The workshop incorporates Agile and Scrum values, principles, and practices throughout to reinforce the learning. Using real-world examples plus theory, you will receive a thorough grounding in how Scrum works and practical applications to take back to work.

Upon course completion you gain a two-year Scrum Alliance Membership and become eligible for the Certified Scrum Master® exam, required to complete the Scrum Alliance certification process.

To ensure the best possible learning experience, workshop enrollment is limited to 25 students only.

Who should attend

This Certified Scrum Master® Workshop helps everyone in your organization who wants to understand how Scrum and Agile can transform the way you work.

This includes:

  • Leaders at all levels, from C-Suite to 1st line Management
  • Engineers, Analysts, Testers, Design, & Ops
  • Program & Project Managers
  • Marketing, HR, Legal, Support, or any function in your business solving hard problems
  • You?

About the Trainer - Eric Rapin

Eric Rapin, Certified Scrum Trainer® has taught thousands in a wide variety of industries including software product development, where he spent the majority of his career, but also to organizations in banking, finance, insurance, pharma/biotech, hardware storage, non-profits, IT infrastructure teams and many others. Eric has received positive feedback for how he facilitates his remote training, improved from 100+ remote training workshops over 2000+ hours. Eric has played a variety of roles including 15 years in management positions. His experience includes many Fortune 100 companies such as Adobe, Apple, Sun Microsystems with years of managing global software development teams around the world.

Zoom Requirements, Etiquette and Miscellaneous Information

Live-Online Requirements
To participate in the online course, you'll need the following:

  • A quiet, comfortable place to be for the duration of the class
    • Choose an area without distractions
    • Be mindful of managing potential interruptions (e.g. children, pets, etc).
  • Computer (desktop, laptop, or tablet)
  • Camera and microphone (we'll have virtual breakout rooms)
  • Headset to filter out room noise
  • Internet connectivity
  • Ability to download the workbook

Attendance
We ask that you participate like you would if you were in class.

  • Punctual arrival
  • Full attention and participation (video is required)
  • Committed to full, 100% attendance and participation during class time
  • Attendees must participate in both two days of class.
    Instructors are unable to certify students who miss more than one hour of class. If you anticipate that you may miss more than one hour, please contact your instructor in advance to discuss your situation and determine if rescheduling the class is the best option.

Engagement

  • Breaks – The course will include frequent breaks to allow time away from the screen, time to stretch your legs, and check on friends/family.
  • Video Required – You'll be working with others in video breakout rooms. It's a unique way to engage with your classmates and dive deeper into discussions.
  • Tools – Our coaches have incorporated easy-to-use websites and online collaboration tools to support their lessons.

PDU and SEU Credits
This course provides 16 SEUs of the 70 needed for the Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) certification. This course also earns 16 PMI PDUs and 16 needed for the PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certification and PMP certification.


Frequently asked Questions

  • Where can I contact the organizer with any questions about the course?
    Please email all questions by contacting Support here
  • Is my registration/ticket transferrable?
    Yes. Attendees are allowed one transfer, but it must be to the same class type and can only be transferred for the next upcoming class.
  • Do you offer group discounts?
    Yes! We are happy to accommodate large groups and encourage full teams to sign up. Contact us information@agilonomics.com for more information on discount pricing.

Eric Rapin

Agile Coach and Trainer

Eric Rapin is the founder and CEO of Lucid Agile, Inc. and a Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Trainer®, leading efforts to adopt and improve organizations use of Scrum and other Agile methods. He has been working in software product development in various roles for over 30 years. Beginning his career as a software engineer and moving through various product development roles from dev to test to release and performance, Eric has covered the gamut in the software world, half of that time in various management roles. Eric discovered that many things he had started doing were articulated best by the Agile world and found a natural home there. Eric has worked at many leading companies such as Nortel, Apple, Sun Microsystems, Openwave, Adobe, Tableau, and Salesforce.Eric focuses most specifically on Retrospective Facilitation and has been active in the Retrospective Facilitator’s Gathering community for over 10 years.

Patrick Foster

Agile Coach


Patrick Foster

I’m a leader who serves as an Agile Coach in organizations.

I help senior leadership plan long-term strategic decisions while embracing the Agile mindset.

I also work with teams to help them become self organizing on their journey of providing value to the customers.

I see my clients as creative, resourceful, and whole and I’m here to walk alongside them to achieve business outcomes.

Elena Vassilieva

Innovation Leader Coach & Agile Transformation Adviser

Elena Vassilieva is an executive leadership coach who uses virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate sustainable and immersive feedback for conscious leadership development. Elena integrates principles of Conversational and Emotional IQ and Systemic Team coaching with an Agile/Lean empirical approach to create a personalized holistic coaching
experience. Drawing on her years of training, mentoring, and coaching executives and teams in Agile transformation, she now serves as a trusted advisor for thought leaders who engage in digital transformation.
Elena is an experienced people development leader known for her ability to creatively align business strategy to people’s practices while keeping a passionate focus on workplace culture and values.
Elena is an ICF Certified Coach, ORSC, and AoEC Certified Systemic Team Coach, Certified Visionary Leadership Coach.
As the Scrum Alliance Certified Coach and Certified Agile Leadership Educator, Elena is teaching, training, and coaching teams and individuals to become great Agile professionals and Agile leaders. She brings together diverse and passionate voices dedicated to developing thriving workplace cultures, creating joy and value with the Agile approach, and embracing the agile mindset in work and life environments.
Elena works with leaders and teams around the globe, helping them engage in digital transformation and mapping out powerful organizational shifts to create a sustainable culture focused on learning and innovation. She helps executives in global companies find alignment around cultural and social diversity and aligns around shared purpose, shared values, and business goals.
Elena blends her diverse experiences as a trusted advisor, professional consultant, coach, researcher, and VR documentary producer.

Alireza Boloorchi

PhD in Computer Science

Alireza Boloorchi is passionate about efficiency for the whole. He believes leadership is about the courage in sacrificing localized efficiency for a greater goal. For the last 12 years, he has been helping several large and small organizations to adopt/adapt more efficient process using Agile/Lean values and principles.

He received his PhD in Computer Science and is Certified Scrum Professional by Scrum Alliance. His experience is rooted in software engineering followed up in roles such as Scrum Master, Agile coach, ENT Agile coach, and leadership in Agile organizations.

He has worked/consulted in several industries such as Finance, Game, Semiconductor, manufacturing , etc. Academia has been an important part of his professional life, and He is researching and teaching Agile in the academia as an Adjunct Professor at Oklahoma State University. And serves as reviewer for several journals such as Journal of Super Computing, Network Systems, and Information Science.

Zach Bonaker

Benevolent Trouble-maker

Zach Bonaker is a “benevolent trouble-maker” based in San Diego, California, USA and has more than 10 years of experience assisting organizations with achieving their goals through improved working conditions and team-centric systems of work. With experience guiding Fortune 500 companies to multi-million dollar startups, Zach draws upon agile principles, relationships, and systems thinking to redesign structures into safe, collaborative environments. Zach is an international conference speaker, frequent podcast guest, and contributor to the global agile community. When he isn’t thinking about next-generation agile ideas, Zach can be found enjoying the sunny California weather and connecting with people all over the world.

Michael de la Maza

PhD, MIT, CEC, Co founder Demingway.com

Michael de la Maza is the founder of Heart Healthy Scrum and a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC). Previously, he was VP of Corporate Strategy at Softricity (acquired by Microsoft in 2006) and co-founder of Inquira (acquired by Oracle in 2011). He is the co-editor of Agile Coaching: Wisdom from Practitioners and co-author of Professional Scrum with TFS 2010 and Why Agile Works: The Values Behind The Results. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT.

Jeff Patton

Chief Troublemaker

Jeff Patton helps companies adopt a way of working that’s focused on building great products, not just building stuff faster. Jeff blends a mixture of Agile thinking, Lean and Lean Startup Thinking, and UX Design and Design Thinking to end up with a holistic product-centric way of working. Jeff is author of the bestselling O’Reilly book User Story Mapping which describes a simple holistic approach to using stories in Agile development without losing sight of the big picture.

Jeff’s a Certified Scrum Trainer, and winner of the Agile Alliance’s 2007 Gordon Pask Award for contributions to Agile Development. You can learn more about Jeff, and find essays and past writing from his columns with StickyMinds.com, Better Software Magazine, and IEEE Software on his website: jpattonassociates.com. 

Amitabh Sinha

Execution Strategy Advisor, CTC

Amitabh (Amit) Sinha is a servant leader entrepreneur, visionary, mentor, trainer and coach. Amit is highly passionate about Agile, it’s principles, values, and the human side. Amit is a people champion and strives to bring out the best in his teams. Amit leverages his expertise in Agile, Scrum, Kanban and people skills to increase team effectiveness and happiness.

Amit has had huge success in transforming teams, departments and organizations. He has led, coached, nurtured and trained hundreds of teams into high performance and happiness! Amit’s teams have often been noted for their high levels of exuberance. Amit helps Scrum Masters, Product Owners, leaders and executives understand the Agile mindset and how to create effective products that delight customers. 

Amit contributes to the community by speaking at various forums and meetups to share his knowledge and wisdom with others. He delivered a popular workshop on happiness and productivity at the global Agile conference August 2019(AA 2019, DC). Amit lives with his wife and three boys in Palo Alto, California.

Rakesh Sadhwani

Business Strategy Advisor

Rakesh Sadhwani is an entrepreneur, businessman, and technical leader who possesses a wealth of industry experience and know-how.  He currently serves as the CEO of an award winning, Bay Area technical staffing and solutions firm, Vertisystem. Rakesh’s expertise includes on-shoring and off-shoring, staff augmentation, business strategy, business development and creating valued partnerships.

What sets Rakesh apart as a leader is his dedication to the relationship first, his genuine commitment to the community, enabling his staff’, and a commitment to doing what is right.  Rakesh is a true partner who sincerely listens and endeavors to deliver value above and beyond your expectations. Rakesh lives with his wife and two daughters in Fremont, California.