Story Point

A story point is a unit of relative estimation used by agile teams to express the overall effort of a backlog item, combining complexity, uncertainty and volume rather than hours. Teams estimate items in comparison to one another, for example using a Fibonacci-like scale, instead of predicting exact durations.

Because story points are relative, they are specific to a team and should not be compared across teams. Over several iterations, the number of points a team completes per iteration (its velocity) becomes a basis for forecasting. Story points shift the focus from precise time estimates to a shared sense of size.

Related: velocity, epic, iteration.

Last updated: 4 July 2026 · By Tom, PMP-certified since 2004

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