Understanding Story Points AGILE Estimation

Introduction

In the world of software development, planning and estimating tasks are crucial for the success of any project. However, it can be a constant challenge to find the best way to estimate the effort required to complete each task. Personally, I have encountered questions and doubts about how to use Story Points to estimate my team’s work and especially how to quantify tasks with a value of 0. While seeking a clear explanation and detailed examples, I discovered that estimates can often seem ambiguous and hard to understand. In this article, I will thoroughly explain the effort-based estimation method of Story Points using Legos as an analogy, and provide numerous practical examples to facilitate understanding.

What are Story Points?

Story Points are a unit of measure used in agile methodology to estimate the effort and complexity required to complete a task or user story. Unlike time estimates, Story Points focus on the relative effort needed to complete a task, considering factors such as difficulty, amount of work, and uncertainty.

Time Estimation vs. Story Points Estimation

Time Estimation:

• Precision in time: Estimates how much exact time it will take to complete a task.
• Daily variability: Estimates can vary due to daily productivity.
• Dependence on individual performance: Estimates depend on each person’s skill and speed.

Story Points Estimation:

• Relative effort: Estimates the relative effort and complexity of tasks.
• Long-term consistency: Daily variations balance out over time.
• Teamwork: Facilitates team collaboration by understanding tasks in terms of relative effort.

Why Use Story Points?

1. Flexibility: No need to estimate exact time, just relative effort.
2. Better planning: Helps plan better over several sprints.
3. Adaptability: Allows adjusting estimates in future sprints.

Points Limit

Companies usually set a points limit that a team can handle in a sprint based on their average capacity. This helps maintain balance and avoid work overload.

Tasks with 0 and 0.5 Points

Tasks with 0 Points:

• Insignificant or routine tasks that consume very little time and effort.
• Although they consume time, the impact on sprint capacity is minimal.

Tasks with 0.5 Points:

• Small but relevant tasks that require some time and effort.
• Allows more accurate estimation for small tasks that, while not large, impact the sprint.

Examples of Software Development Tasks

Examples of 0 Points

1. Minor documentation update.
2. Small typo correction in the code.
3. Quick validation of a completed task.
4. Setting a parameter in the development environment.
5. Fixing a compilation warning.
6. Changing a configuration in the continuous integration system.
7. Quick data verification in the database.
8. Restarting a service.
9. Updating a comment in the code.
10. Reviewing an alert in the monitoring system.

Examples of 0.5 Points

1. Reviewing a simple PR (Pull Request) and approving it.
2. Adding a small adjustment in the CSS to correct a margin.
3. Correcting a small typo in the documentation.
4. Setting up a new user in the project management system.
5. Making a small optimization in a database query.
6. Adding a unit test for an existing function.
7. Updating an environment variable in the configuration file.
8. Reviewing and accepting an automatic dependency update.
9. Modifying one line of code to correct a linting warning.
10. Updating a translation in the locales file.

Examples of 1 Point

1. Fixing a minor bug that does not affect main functionality.
2. Adding a small new function to an existing API.
3. Creating a migration script for a simple schema change.
4. Refactoring a function to improve readability without changing behavior.
5. Writing a basic set of unit tests for a simple function.
6. Updating the documentation to reflect minor changes in the API.
7. Implementing basic validation in an input form.
8. Setting up a new task in the CI/CD system.
9. Integrating a new icon into the user interface.
10. Conducting an in-depth code review and suggesting improvements.

Examples of 2 Points

1. Implementing basic authentication in a web application.
2. Adding pagination to a list of items in an API.
3. Refactoring a module to improve code efficiency.
4. Creating a new page in an application with static content.
5. Conducting integration tests for a specific module.
6. Setting up a development environment for a new team member.
7. Implementing a simple search function in the application.
8. Fixing several minor bugs in different parts of the system.
9. Migrating data between two systems with an automated script.
10. Setting up and securing an endpoint in the API.

Examples of 3 Points

1. Implementing a push notification system.
2. Developing an admin page with full CRUD capabilities.
3. Refactoring a large module to improve performance.
4. Implementing authentication and authorization in a web application.
5. Performing significant optimization in a database.
6. Creating a complete set of integration tests for an application.
7. Setting up a continuous deployment system from scratch.
8. Developing a new medium-sized feature with complex logic.
9. Migrating an application to a new framework or technology.
10. Implementing a caching system to improve performance.

Examples of 5 Points

1. Developing a new major functionality for the application.
2. Integrating a complex external API into the system.
3. Redesigning the user interface of a major module.
4. Implementing a complex roles and permissions system.
5. Optimizing the entire application for high load.
6. Performing a complete database migration with schema changes.
7. Setting up and optimizing a cloud infrastructure.
8. Developing a comprehensive monitoring and alert system.
9. Creating a complex reporting and data analysis functionality.
10. Implementing a complete payments and billing system.

Examples of 8 Points

1. Redesigning and restructuring the entire application architecture.
2. Migrating the entire application to a new framework or technology.
3. Implementing a complete e-commerce system from scratch.
4. Integrating multiple external APIs with complex business logic.
5. Developing a real-time data analytics platform.
6. Optimizing and securing the application to comply with strict regulations (like GDPR).
7. Creating a personalization and recommendation system based on AI.
8. Developing a complete native mobile application along with its backend.
9. Implementing a user and roles management system for a large enterprise.
10. Conducting a complete security audit and applying all necessary improvements.

Conclusion

Story Points estimation is a powerful tool for planning and managing projects in software development. By focusing on relative effort and complexity, rather than exact time, it allows greater flexibility and adaptability. This method facilitates team collaboration and helps avoid work overload. We hope that, with this detailed guide and practical examples provided, you can implement and make the most of Story Points estimation in your projects, thereby improving your team’s efficiency and success.