Story Points

Story points are relative estimates — a 5-point story is roughly 2.5 times the effort of a 2-point story. Common scales include Fibonacci (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21) and T-shirt sizes (S, M, L, XL). Planning Poker is the most popular estimation technique — each team member independently selects a card, all are revealed simultaneously, and differences are discussed until consensus is reached. Story points measure effort and complexity, not time. A senior developer and a junior developer would assign the same story points to an item, even though they'd complete it at different speeds.