Story points or hours?

Every team that estimates has to decide whether to size work in story points or in hours. Both can work. They answer different questions, and the right choice depends on what the estimates are for.

The difference

• Hours ask "how long will this take?" The answer depends on who does the work, how often they are interrupted and how much they know already.
• Story points ask "how big is this compared with other work?" The answer is shared by the whole team and doesn't change with who picks the work up.

People are much better at comparing than at predicting time. Most of us can say that one job is about twice as big as another long before we can say how many hours either will take.

When story points work better

• The team is planning sprints or releases and needs to know roughly how much fits.
• Different people with different speeds might pick up the work.
• There is real uncertainty, and you want the estimate to show it rather than hide it behind a precise-looking number.
• You want the discussion to be about the work, not about how fast someone is.

When hours work better

• The work is small, routine and well understood, such as a repeated configuration task.
• Someone outside the team needs a time or a cost, for example for a quote or a budget.
• A single person is doing the work and planning their own week.

Many teams use both: story points for planning the backlog, then hours for breaking a single sprint's work into tasks, if they find that useful.

Explaining points to people who think in time

Stakeholders usually want dates, not points. Velocity is the bridge: if a team usually finishes around 30 points a sprint and the next release is about 90 points, it is roughly three sprints away. That answer comes from what the team has actually done, which makes it more honest than adding up hour estimates.

EstimateIt's planning poker cards are story points or T-shirt sizes. If you need a cost, the Cost Estimator (available to account holders on request) turns the people and days a piece of work needs into a cost.

Common questions

Are story points better than hours?

For planning a team's work, usually yes, because comparing sizes is easier and more consistent than predicting time. For small, routine tasks or a cost quote, hours can be simpler.

Can you convert story points to hours?

Not reliably. A point means a different amount of time for different stories and people. Use velocity to turn points into a number of sprints instead.

How do I give a deadline if we estimate in points?

Divide the points left by the team's usual velocity to get a number of sprints, then give a range rather than a single date.

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