Greetings!
This is the third in a series of blogs that focus on Agile teams. The hope is to share information and practices to make Agile teaming more efficient and productive, while injecting some positive sentiment and fun into the teams at the same time.
My background within Tech is that of a ScrumMaster, Agile Focal, Agile Coach and a Project Manager. A few years ago, I completed a career pivot, providing me with a unique perspective. I am a former school Principal and have a wealth of experience leading teams in an alternative industry. I have been able to bring leadership and teaming techniques from the world of Education and merge them with traditional Tech industry Agile, leading to interesting and successful results. The focus of this blog is “Story Points.” This is a concept to try with all Agile teams, especially teams that are new to Agile.
What is a Story Point?
A story point is a relative unit of measure, decided upon and used by Agile Teams, to provide a measure of effort for completing committed work. Typically, the Fibonacci sequence is used to create the story point allocations. Ex. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. Teams “size” potential work during backlog refinement based on a variety of factors. If the piece of work is sized at more than 21 points, it should be broken down into smaller, more achievable deliverables or turned into an Epic.
How are Story Points used?
Story Point sizing is based consideration of the following : 1) the amount of work need to satisfy the definition of done 2) the complexity of the work 3) accounting for risk and uncertainty in doing the work 4) time/duration needed to complete the task.
As previously mentioned, the sizing of each piece of work is completed during backlog refinement. Over time, the team will become better at estimating how many story points to allocate. A few factors to consider when trying to size work: Is this net new work or has this type of task been completed before? What are the potential dependencies or blockers? Who needs to come together to complete this piece of work? Is this a piece of work continuing from a previous sprint or is this a piece of work starting anew?
Why use Story Points?
- Estimating team and individual velocity for a sprint-
Story points can be a way to measure the progress and improvement of an Agile team. For example, if a beginning team completes 60 story points of work in a typical sprint, over time, as they complete similar tasks in multiple sprints and work more efficiently together as a team that number per sprint should rise. The same can be said for an individual’s velocity. Typically, the industry accepted number for an individual’s output for a two-week sprint is 21 story points. Over time, an individual velocity should increase to 21 or perhaps beyond. The quality of the delivered work is more important than the quantity of the story points delivered, but over time both should improve.
- Understanding of relative sizing of backlog items to each other-
After some practice, Agile teams should be able to not only size work currently in the backlog, but size work that the team is considering adding to the backlog or size a potential new project. The more evolved teams can take a new project/deliverable and estimate its relative size using story points. Then, knowing their normal velocity in a sprint, be able to estimate how many sprints it would take to deliver the desired output. Ex. This project is 180 story points, it would take us 3 sprints (6 weeks) to complete.
- Measuring the impacts of injects
An “inject” is a high priority piece of work that is placed into a sprint that was not a part of the original planning process. Injects are typically made by upper management and in a “fire drill” manner that disrupts the velocity of a team. When the team is presented with an inject, is must be sized. The sprint will need to be readjusted if the team agrees to take on the work. Ex. A 13 pts inject enters the sprint, 13 pts of work needs to be deprioritized and placed back into the backlog. Story points protect the team and the individual from being overloaded and overwhelmed. If a team can only complete 60 high quality story points in a sprint, a 13 point inject cannot be absorbed, previously planned work will need to be sacrificed and deprioritized.
Why are story points effective?
Story points can be used effectively for several reasons. They can track a team’s output in a given sprint and measure improvements in output over time as the team matures. Story points can help to handle injects and protect the team and individuals from being over extended. Over time, they can be used to size new projects and help to estimate a completion date. Finally, story points forces the team to communicate and collaborate.
What has your experience been with story points? Please comment below! I would love to hear your personal stories.
Have suggestions for future blogs? Please comment below and send along any ideas and feedback.