Story points are a unit of measure used in Agile project management methodologies to estimate the amount of effort required to complete a task or a user story in a product backlog. They are an abstract unit of measure, defined by the team, that can be used to evaluate, understand, and compare tasks based on the overall effort required to complete each one. Story points are assigned based on the works complexity, amount, and uncertainty. The raw values assigned to story points are unimportant, but the relative values are what matter. For example, a user story that is assigned two story points should be twice as much effort as a one-point story and two-thirds the effort of a story that is estimated as three story points.

Teams use story points to estimate how much work they can achieve in a period of time and build consensus and commitment to the solution. Story points reward team members for solving problems based on difficulty, not time spent, which keeps team members focused on shipping value. They also help teams understand the size of the work and the prioritization of the work.

To estimate story points, teams use an exercise called planning poker, where each team member mentally formulates an estimate and then everyone holds up a card with their estimate. Once the team agrees on an estimate, it assigns story points to the backlog item, which is later used in calculating a team’s average sprint velocity, capacity, and more.

Story points are an estimation technique that helps teams scope the effort required to complete a task, and they make estimating effort easier and simplify sprint planning. They also provide a better understanding of a project’s full scope of work by evaluating each task individually, which creates a better understanding of the project as a whole.