Purpose
When teams want to rate complexity rather than hours, it creates a shared, relative scale. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as Point Estimates, Reference Stories, and Velocity Data.
Agile Decision method
Story Points
Assigns relative points using reference stories and makes risk, scope, and learning effort comparable.
Story Points place stories in relation to one another and use comparison rather than a time calendar as the basis for assessment. This makes estimation more consistent and less tied to apparently precise hours, without claiming exactness.
How large is an item relative to known team stories when effort, complexity, and risk are considered together without translating points into hours?
- Participants
- 3-9
- Time
- 30–60 minutes for 8–15 refined items; ongoing calibration in refinement.
The practice is repeated across comparable work items.
Scale
Point frame
Explain team-specific relative scale and included effort, complexity, and risk.
References
Story anchors
Check small, medium, and large completed stories as anchors.
Compare
Relative finding
Triangulate the item against at least two references and name differences in work, complexity, and risk.
Clarify
Clarified story
Resolve divergent estimates and large items through scope, uncertainty, and splitting.
Use
Team estimate
Use points for team-internal backlog understanding and historical forecasts; never target velocity or compare teams.
Add new evidence at review and version estimates with the prior state.
A good fit when
Wenn Teams Komplexität statt Stunden bewerten wollen, schafft sie einen gemeinsamen relativen Maßstab. Sie hilft, Unsicherheit, Risiko und Umfang zusammen zu sehen.
Ideal for
- Relative sizing
- Backlog refinement
- Team planning
Not good for
- Cross-team benchmarking
- Very small standard tasks
- Management performance metrics
Outputs
Team estimate
Team-relative story-point estimates with reference comparison, clarified assumptions, split needs, and team-internal forecast use.
Story Points · working structure
Fictional example
Fictional values show the actual method fields.
| Story | Included | Smaller anchor | Larger anchor | Comparison | Points | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Save cardAdd evidence and rationale. | Build, test, security, rollout | 3 · billing address | 8 · new payment method | More security than 3; existing API less than 8 | 5 | Ready |
| Provider migrationAdd evidence and rationale. | Auth, migration, fallback, certification | 8 · new payment method | 13 · checkout rebuild | Several independent outcomes | 20 | Split 5/8/5; re-estimate |
1. Included
- Save card
- Build, test, security, rollout
- Provider migration
- Auth, migration, fallback, certification
2. Smaller anchor
- Save card
- 3 · billing address
- Provider migration
- 8 · new payment method
3. Larger anchor
- Save card
- 8 · new payment method
- Provider migration
- 13 · checkout rebuild
4. Comparison
- Save card
- More security than 3; existing API less than 8
- Provider migration
- Several independent outcomes
5. Points
- Save card
- 5
- Provider migration
- 20
6. Follow-up
- Save card
- Ready
- Provider migration
- Split 5/8/5; re-estimate
All values are fictional.
First step
Set team, Done, included work types, and point sequence; choose several completed reference stories with stable points.
Good to do first
Deep dive
How it works
It ranks stories relative to each other and uses comparison rather than a time calendar as the basis for evaluation. This makes estimation more consistent and less tied to falsely precise hours, without pretending to exactness.
In detail
Story Points are not a universal unit of time, but a team-specific relative size. A team compares one item with another and assigns points for effort, complexity, and uncertainty in relation to each other. Velocity is then useful only as an internal signal for that same team. It should not be turned into a cross-team productivity metric.
Facilitation
Use a small set of reference stories and revisit them regularly. Keep the scale stable once the team has calibrated. Never compare velocity across teams as if it were an objective productivity measure.
The method guide walks execution through 5 phases, timing, 5 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.
Open method guideYour perspective
Does this method help with your work?
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Sources and topics
Artifact templates
Story Points: WorksheetSet subject, data, roles, flow, and review.markdown
Story Points: WorksheetSet subject, data, roles, flow, and review.
markdownstory-points-working-template.md
Set subject, data, roles, flow, and review.
Story Points: Worksheet
Question
To be confirmed
Desired outcome
To be confirmed
Scope
Practice run Time: 30–60 minutes for 8–15 refined items; ongoing calibration in refinement.
Complete this worksheet on paper or in your own document during the work.
Preparation for this scope
Method setup
- Materials: Refined items, shared Definition of Done, team-specific point sequence, stable reference stories, and assumption log
- Roles: Delivery team estimates · product owner clarifies · facilitator protects relative scale
- Advance information: Set team, Done, included work types, and point sequence; choose several completed reference stories with stable points.
- Overall time needed: 30–60 minutes for 8–15 refined items; ongoing calibration in refinement.
- Setup: Prepare a workspace with Scale · References · Compare · Clarify · Use; separate example from live data.
Prepare for the work steps
Scale: Point frame
- Set team, Done, included work types, and point sequence; choose several completed reference stories with stable points.
- Refined items, shared Definition of Done, team-specific point sequence, stable reference stories, and assumption log
References: Story anchors
- Point frame
Compare: Relative finding
- Story anchors
Clarify: Clarified story
- Relative finding
Use: Team estimate
- Clarified story
Story Points · working structure
| Story | Included | Smaller anchor | Larger anchor | Comparison | Points | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Save card | ||||||
| Provider migration |
- Save card: Add evidence and rationale.
- Provider migration: Add evidence and rationale.
The blank worksheet contains prompts only.
Reference · original teaching example
Scale: Point frame
Expected artifact: Point frame
Explain team-specific relative scale and included effort, complexity, and risk.
Entry:
...
- Are points free of hour or person-day conversion?
References: Story anchors
Expected artifact: Story anchors
Check small, medium, and large completed stories as anchors.
Entry:
...
- Are anchors from the same team under the same Done?
Compare: Relative finding
Expected artifact: Relative finding
Triangulate the item against at least two references and name differences in work, complexity, and risk.
Entry:
...
- Is the ratio explained through work rather than converted mathematically?
Clarify: Clarified story
Expected artifact: Clarified story
Resolve divergent estimates and large items through scope, uncertainty, and splitting.
Entry:
...
- Do 13+ items have a split or spike?
Use: Team estimate
Expected artifact: Team estimate
Use points for team-internal backlog understanding and historical forecasts; never target velocity or compare teams.
Entry:
...
- Is the forecast based on own history and communicated as a range?
Open questions and next steps
...
Method guide: https://methodatlas.meierhoff-systems.de/en/methods/story-points/run-sheet
Alternatives and neighbors
Fitting alternatives with decision guidance, followed by other related methods.
Agile
NoEstimates
Instead of Story Points, choose NoEstimates when you want to steer by flow and delivery throughput instead of mandatory estimates.
Delivery
Monte Carlo Forecasting
Instead of Story Points, choose Monte Carlo Forecasting when you want to plan with probabilities instead of individual estimates.
Agile
Ideal Days
Moves backlog, sprint work, and team flow toward a concrete result through "explain the ideal day unit", "calibrate with a reference item", and "do not confuse it with calendar days".
Agile
T-Shirt Sizing
Sorts backlog items roughly by reference sizes and flags early on which items will later need splitting or clarification.
Agile
Affinity Estimation
Has the team group items silently, discusses deviations, and produces consistent relative size pictures.
Agile
Bucket System
Moves backlog, sprint work, and team flow toward a concrete result through "prepare buckets and scale", "place reference items", and "flag large or unclear items".
Constraints and origin
MediumWorkshop + asynclaufend, 1-5 min je Item
Profile
- Method form
- Decision method
- Participants
- 3-9
- Time
- laufend, 1-5 min je Item
- Maturity
- Canonical
- Origin
- Agile Community
Next up: Scrum