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Pointing Scale

The point estimate for a story is between 0 and 3. These estimates are to assess 'risk' involved for the described task with 0 being the absolute lowest and 3 being the highest.

Here is how I generally describe each value:

  • 0 Copy changes, absolute no-brainer items
  • 1 Straight-forward change, approach is known and comfortable to developer
  • 2 Task is straight-forward with a small set of approaches available, but if first option does not work out another has to be tried
  • 3 Task is unfamiliar and risky. If an idea does not pan out, it could be back to the drawing board to figure out other options.

As a general rule you want to avoid using estimates that are 0 except in the most simplistic cases as they will mess with overall team velocity and are a sign stories are too granular.