Story Points

[Scott Jensen]

As I mentioned on the last community call I'd write up a quick proposal on the use of Story points in the Waffle board.  This is a new feature which they just added.  

By assigning story points to the tickets we can understand how difficult a particular task will be.  Over time we will be able to determine what velocity which we can reliably achieve in a sprint.  Once that is determined we can during planning ensure that we do not over commit the team to an unacheaveable amount of work in one sprint.  Additionally this will help us scope the size of a release.

Story points should be based on the complexity of the task not the amount of time it will take to complete it.

Least Complex (Simple) > 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100 > Very Complex (Unknown)

It is a good idea to pick a story which has already been sized and then ask if the story in question is more complex or less complex.  

I suggest that we assign story points to stories as they are pulled into a sprint or if they are at the top of the backlog during planning.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any other ideas.

Thanks,

Scott