Story Points

5 minutes 5 Questions

Story points are a unit of measure used to estimate the effort and complexity involved in implementing a user story. They allow the development team to easily and quickly assess the relative size of work items without getting bogged down in detailed time estimates. Story points are usually determined through a process called 'planning poker', where team members individually assign points to a user story, after which they discuss and come to a consensus. This estimation method allows the team to take into account the effort, complexity, and uncertainty associated with the story, providing a more accurate and consistent measure of work.

Guide on Story Points in Agile Project Management

Story Points in Agile Project Management is a measure used to estimate the effort required to implement a user story.

Importance: Story points are important for various reasons: They enable the Project Management team to measure and compare the complexity of user stories, foster better discussions about requirements, and improve estimates over time through the technique of 'velocity'.

What it is: A Story point is a metric used in agile software development and Scrum, to understand the complexity of user stories. It is a relative measure and not an absolute measure. Instead of hours, development teams use story points to estimate the effort required to develop a user story.

How it Works: A team will assign a story point value to each card, reflecting the effort level it would take to implement it. The values are based on complexity, risks, and efforts involved. Over time, the team gets a sense of its 'velocity', or the amount of points the team can complete in a particular period, which aids in future planning.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Story Points:
1. Make sure to understand the fundamental concept of story points and their relative nature.
2. Be aware it is a measure of effort, not time.
3. Understand how to calculate velocity.
4. Be ready to define and give advantages of story points.
5. Questions might involve practical scenarios where you have to assign or interpret story points.

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Question 1

The team has just finished a sprint, which consisted of tasks with a total of 40 story points. However, the team has only managed to complete tasks equivalent to 30 story points. What should the team do moving forward?

Increase the team's capacity Adjust their planned story points for the next sprint Contact the product owner for additional resources Ignore the results and proceed as planned Blame one another for not completing tasks Re-evaluate the entire project

Correct Answer: Adjust their planned story points for the next sprint

The team should adjust their planned story points for the next sprint based on their actual completed points during the previous sprint. This will help them plan and manage workload more realistically.

Question 2

A new team member with no Scrum experience has joined your team. How should you explain the concept of story points to them?

Story points equal the number of hours needed to complete a task Story points are the value a task adds to the end-user Story points represent the effort, complexity, and risk associated with a task Story points are a currency used by Scrum teams Story points are related to the market value of the project Story points are a measure of the team's performance

Correct Answer: Story points represent the effort, complexity, and risk associated with a task

Story points measure the effort, complexity, and risk associated with a task. They should not be confused with hours, the value a task adds to the end-user, or the performance of the team.

Question 3

Your team is estimating story points for a new user registration feature. The development effort of this task is similar to a previous task that was assigned 5 story points. However, the new task requires additional integration efforts. What should the team do?

Ignore the integration effort Assign exactly 5 story points Assign more than 5 story points Add a new team member Assign less than 5 story points Use a different estimation method

Correct Answer: Assign more than 5 story points

Story points should consider the overall complexity and effort of a task. Since this task will require additional integration efforts compared to the previous task, more points should be assigned.

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