A refresher on story points, one of the most misunderstood concepts for those new to Agile.

1. Larry Apke
Agile Expert
www.agile-doctor.com
larry@agile-doctor.com

2. Everything is Relative
 Much of the pain and confusion over story points,
velocity, etc. is related to the difference between points
and hours
 Story points are about size and all size is relative
 Story points are used for stories and long term
(release) planning, low fidelity
 Hours are absolute sizes
 Hours are used for tasks and short term (iteration)
planning, high fidelity

3. Everything is Relative cont.
 Because story sizing is about relative size, the best
methods of sizing (pointing) involve techniques that
emphasize relative and not absolute size
 Planning poker is generally misused because most
teams think of it in absolute terms
 Speed is important – Why? Do you have stories
without points? How can you give idea of long term
capabilities?
 The best method for co-located teams that I have
found is silent grouping

4. Silent Grouping
 Step 1 – Re-direct previous behaviors.– Night Sky and
Zen Tea Koan

5. Silent Grouping – Night Sky

6. Silent Grouping – Night Sky

7. Silent Grouping - Zen Tea Koan
A Japanese master received a university professor who
came to inquire about Zen. The master served tea.
He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on
pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer
could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!“
"Like this cup," the master said, "you are full of your own
opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen
unless you first empty your cup?"

8. Silent Grouping
 Step 1 – Re-direct previous behaviors.– Night Sky and
Zen Tea Koan
 Step 2 – Facilitator takes a story and places it on the
wall.

9. Silent Grouping
 Step 1 – Re-direct previous behaviors.– Night Sky and
Zen Tea Koan
 Step 2 – Facilitator takes a story and places it on the
wall.
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.

10. Silent Grouping
 Step 1 – Re-direct previous behaviors.– Night Sky and
Zen Tea Koan
 Step 2 – Facilitator takes a story and places it on the
wall.
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands

11. Silent Grouping
 Step 1 – Re-direct previous behaviors.– Night Sky and
Zen Tea Koan
 Step 2 – Facilitator takes a story and places it on the
wall.
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order – with minimal talking

12. Silent Grouping
 Step 2 – Facilitator takes a story and places it on the
wall.
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order with minimal talking
 Step 6 – After all stories are placed, team takes a few
minutes to verify stories are smallest to largest

13. Silent Grouping
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order with minimal talking
 Step 6 – After all stories are placed, team takes a few
minutes to verify stories are smallest to largest
 Step 7 – Draw lines to create columns

14. Silent Grouping
 Step 3 – Facilitator takes second story, gets agreement
on whether larger or smaller than first.
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order with minimal talking
 Step 6 – After all stories are placed, team takes a few
minutes to verify stories are smallest to largest
 Step 7 – Draw lines to create columns

15. Silent Grouping
 Step 4 – Facilitator repeats until team understands
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order with minimal talking
 Step 6 – After all stories are placed, team takes a few
minutes to verify stories are smallest to largest
 Step 7 – Draw lines to create columns
 Step 8 – Verify that the small column is the smallest
and assign points to columns

16. Silent Grouping
 Step 5 – Team grabs stories and places them on the
wall in size order with minimal talking
 Step 6 – After all stories are placed, team takes a few
minutes to verify stories are smallest to largest
 Step 7 – Draw lines to create columns
 Step 8 – Verify that the small column is the smallest
and assign points to columns
 Step 9 – Give the team one last chance to briefly
discuss now that points have been added

17. Non co-located teams
 A similar exercise can be done over phone and screen
sharing
 One difference is that columns are usually already
created and stories are put into existing columns based
on relative size

18. Sizing New Stories is Easy
 A physical (or virtual) sizing board becomes the
yardstick by which all future stories are measured
 Instead of asking the team what is the story size, you
can ask them which group of stories does the new
story most resemble, place it in column and you have
points
 If there is trouble gaining consensus, this might be
where planning poker cards will help

19. Determine a Baseline Velocity
 Start with the largest column and proceed through
each column asking a simple question – “Could we get
a story from this column completed in a single
iteration?”
 For each “yes”, add the point value.
 Once you have added the point values, you have your
first cut at estimated velocity
 If the team has a history you can use those stories
(with your new yardsticks) to get an average velocity

20. Order, Groom, Plan Iteration
 Story sizing should inform story ranking – You don’t
know ROI without the I.
 Story sizing and initial velocity helps us determine
which stories are too large and need to be broken
down
 Story sizing and velocity helps us determine which
stories to groom and add detailed acceptance criteria
and tasks to

21. Execute, Revise
 As we complete the stories and iterations, the team
begins to understand more about actual velocity
 There is a general pattern that a lot of teams follow
which is good to understand – the heartbeat
 The backlog can always be laid out over time, using
estimated velocity and story points, to show the
business what the team is capable of completing over
time