How To Estimates Story Points In Scrum

Estimating story points in Scrum is a process of assigning values to the relative sizes of tasks. It is an important part of the process that helps Scrum teams better plan their sprints and stay on track with their goals. Story points provide an estimation of the amount of effort required to complete a task, and they can be used by teams to help them determine how long it will take to complete each task in a sprint.

How to use Planning Poker estimation

The most common way to estimate story points is through a technique called Planning Poker. This involves having all team members give their estimates for each task, then discussing and agreeing upon a final number. Each team member gives their estimate by playing one card from a deck of cards that have numbers associated with them (e.g., 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13). The higher the number on the card played by each person indicates that they believe it will take more effort to complete the task than someone who plays a lower number. After everyone has played their cards, the team discusses and agrees upon one final number as their estimated story point for that particular task.

It’s important for teams to remember that story points are not meant to be exact measurements. Instead they are intended as rough estimations based on each individual's experience with similar tasks in the past and their understanding of what needs to be done for this particular task at hand. Therefore it's important for teams to take time during Planning Poker sessions to discuss why certain people gave certain estimates so everyone understands why they came up with that particular number before settling on one final value as the estimated story point.

When estimating story points it’s also important for teams not only consider how much effort each task requires but also how difficult or complex it might be - these are two different things! For example, if you have two tasks both requiring approximately equal amounts of effort but one being more complex than the other then you should assign higher story points accordingly - even though both require roughly equal amounts of effort!

In addition to using Planning Poker during sprint planning meetings there are other estimation tools and techniques available to help teams estimate stories such as relative sizing (comparing two stories against one another) or affinity estimating (grouping similar stories together). Ultimately though which tool or technique works best depends on your team so experiment until you find something that works well for your particular group!

Conclusion

Overall estimating stories is an essential part of any successful scrum project management system as it allows teams better understand how much effort will go into completing each task during a sprint so they can plan accordingly and ensure success! By taking time during planning meetings (or using online tools) to accurately estimate stories using techniques such as Planning Poker or relative sizing teams can maximize efficiency while still keeping quality high.