What are story points?
Quick answer
Story points are a relative estimate of how big a piece of work is, compared with the team's other work, usually on a scale like 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. They measure size and uncertainty, not hours, and help a team decide how much fits in a sprint.
Last updated
Take the free module →Module 1 of the free Jira for Beginners: Sprints and Kanban course, about 15 minutes. No account needed.
Updated · By Robert Breen
Why it matters for a small business
People are bad at guessing hours and good at comparing: this task is about twice that one. Story points use that. The team sizes each item against the others, and after a sprint or two it knows roughly how many points it finishes in two weeks. That number, the velocity, is what makes sprint planning honest.
The gaps in the scale (5, then 8) are on purpose: big items carry more uncertainty, and an item at 13 or more is usually a sign it should be split. Points are a planning tool for the team, not a score to compare people or teams.
In a real lesson: Jira: Plan and Run Your First Sprint
In the free Jira first sprint lesson, you create six work items in the Ops practice backlog and give them 8, 5, 3, 2, 3 and 1 points in each item's Story point estimate field: 22 in all.
The top four (8, 5, 3 and 2) go into the sprint: 18 points. Three of them reach Done, so Sprint insights shows 16 of 18 points finished. Sixteen becomes the velocity used to plan Sprint 2.
Try this lesson free or read the step-by-step guide.
Common confusions
Story points vs hours
Hours are a time estimate for one person. Points are a size compared with other work, for the whole team, and include how unsure you are.
Story points vs velocity
Points size one item. Velocity is the total points a team finished in a sprint, used to plan the next one.
Tips
- Pick one small, well-understood item as your "1" or "2" and size everything else against it.
- Split anything bigger than 8 into smaller items before it goes into a sprint.
Related terms
More Business terms
Where you use it: free lessons
- Jira: Plan and Run Your First Sprint (Jira, 15 min)
Frequently asked questions
- How do you estimate story points?
- Compare each item with one the team already understands and pick the closest number on the scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8). Many teams discuss until they agree, sometimes with planning poker cards.
- How many story points is one day?
- There is no fixed conversion, on purpose. After a few sprints your velocity tells you how many points the team finishes in a sprint.
- Where do I add story points in Jira?
- Open a work item and fill in Story point estimate in its Details panel, or click the estimate on the backlog row.