3 Critical Reasons I Stopped Using Story Points

Transcript

1. 3 Critical Reasons
   I Stopped Using
   Story Points
   

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2. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   What are Story Points
   ● Story Points are units of measurement of estimation in Agile methodology.
   ● They consider the uncertainty, complexity, and different skill levels among
   developers in their estimations for software development.
   ● They can measure velocity, which is the speed of software development,
   and the development team can use it for continuous improvement.
   

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3. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   3 Flaws of Story Points
   1. Story Points do not support decision-making which is the ultimate purpose
   of estimation.
   2. Story Points are inconsistent in two aspects: inconsistent measurement
   from other events and inconsistent among teams.
   3. Velocity does not matter, but deadline and completion matter in software
   development.
   

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4. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   1. Not Supporting Decision-Making
   ● The purpose of the estimation is to support
   decision-making.
   ● The Product Owner, responsible for
   decision-making, decides based on three-element
   tradeoffs: scope, resources, and time. Estimation
   relates to the time element. However, the Product
   Owner cannot decide based on Story Points
   because it is incompatible with time.
   ● Converting Story Points into time is regarded as an
   anti-pattern.
   

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5. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   2. Inconsistency in Two Aspects
   Inconsistent Measurement
   All Scrum events are defined to be timeboxed with universal units such as minutes, hours, days,
   or months. For example, “Sprint Planning is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours for a
   one-month Sprint.” It causes disorganization and confusion in management.
   Inconsistency among teams
   Story Points are inconsistent among teams. This means the same number of Story Points can
   represent different estimations across different projects. For example, Even if Team X predicts
   that the 50-point task will be completed within a two-week Sprint, the same task might take more
   than two weeks for Team Y to complete. It becomes problematic when Agile is scaled into multiple
   teams because each team cannot share estimation knowledge and experience.
   

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6. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   3. Uselessness of Velocity
   ● Velocity, the speed of software development, is a useless metric because no one
   cares about it and is delighted to hear that. What matters are always deadline and
   velocity.
   ● There is no concept of velocity in the business, and no business professionals care
   about it. What matters is when a task will be completed.
   ● For example, this month’s velocity of software development was 500 pt, and we will
   achieve 600 pt next month. As a business professional, are you delighted to hear
   that?
   

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7. ASIA EDGE TECHNOLOGY. PTD. LTE
   Bottom Line
   ● Although Story Points are widely used in Agile development, they have three critical
   flaws in real software development.
   ● The first flaw is that Story Points do not support decision-making which is the
   ultimate purpose of estimation.
   ● The second flaw is inconsistency in terms of the unit of measurement and cross-team
   management.
   ● The third flaw is that the velocity is a useless metric. Deadline and completion are
   always important.
   ● Because of these flaws, Story Points do not enhance collaboration between business
   professionals and software engineers in order to maximize product value.
   

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