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Story Point Handling

Last post 04:53 pm November 9, 2020 by Daniel Wilhite
3 replies
12:58 pm November 6, 2020

Hello everybody,

 

I have got a question in regard to the handling of story points. We are working with JIRA Tickets and Story Points. We estimate a ticket and sometimes a ticket is not completed. This can have two reasons..

 

Example: The discussed ticket has 5 story points (SP) estimated.

(1) The story points have been used, but there was more complexity or time needed that estimated.

=> 5 SP estimated, 7 SP would have been the correct estimate.

 

(2) The story points have not been completey used out of time or resource reasons.

=> 5 SP estimated, 3 have been used.

 

As I read various different opinions about what to do in this two cases I would like to ask the community here. Here some options

(A) You simply move the ticket that is not completed into the next sprint (or a future sprint) without changing the estimation, but explaining in the ticket what was done and what is still open

=> Still 5 SP

 

(B) You close the original ticket WITHOUT changing its estimate and create a new ticket with the new or remaining story points and describe in the original ticket what was done and in the new one what is open

=> For (1) the original ticket keeps 5 SP and the new ticket is estimated with 2 SP

=> For (2) the original ticket keeps 5 SP and the new ticket is estimated with 2 SP

 

(C) You close the original ticket AND change its estimate and create a new ticket with the new or remaining story points and describe in the original ticket what was done and in the new one what is open

=> For (1) the original ticket keeps 5 SP and the new ticket is estimated with 2 SP

=> For (2) the original ticket SP change from 5 to 3 SP and the new ticket is estimated with 2 SP

 

(D) You add up the more needed SP to the original ticket and move it into the next sprint (or a future sprint) and describe what was done and what is still open

=> For (1) you change the story points of the original ticket from 5 to 7

=> For (2) you keep the 5 story points

 

(E) ...?

 

I read a lot that the story point estimate should not be changed, but some suggest to create new tickets and some to keep the original one. For me seems difficult to hold a bunch of tickets together if you always create a new one, if the original one could not be completed, but then the content and estimate for the sprints is very transparent. In some way I would at least track the estimated total effort for topics, so that the team can improve and in the end it is clear how much story points were needed in total.

 

What are your opinions and suggestions and do you have experience in handling not completed tickets it in JIRA?

 

Thanks in advance &

best regards,

Dirk


07:26 pm November 6, 2020

I'm not sure what you mean by "using" Story Points. Estimates, including Story Points, have limited value after Sprint Planning. Consider that a team has a decent shared understanding of what a Story Point is and tracks their completed Story Points in each Sprint. Unless there's a significant change in the team's capacity, it's highly likely that the Sprint being planned will have a similar completion rate to recent previous Sprints.

The Scrum Guide doesn't give guidance for what to do with unfinished work at the end of a normal Sprint, but does give guidance for what to do with unfinished work due to a canceled Sprint. I do recommend following this guidance in most cases. The Product Backlog Item goes back onto the Product Backlog and is ordered with the other work, including any feedback from the Sprint Review. When considering the order, I do consider the fact that some work has been done and that it is wasteful to start and not finish work. If the work is still relevant, I do encourage it to be finished in the next Sprint as often as possible, but it's not a firm rule.

From a Jira perspective, I do not like to close issues that aren't actually done. Doing so would break traceability with my version control system and CI server to link the issue to the work that it represents. Moving the issue between Sprints or between a Sprint and the backlog is often sufficient. The use of labels and custom fields can be helpful in more complex environments.

I prefer to not reestimate work, so once the team estimates a Product Backlog Item and agrees, that's it. It becomes a fixed value. If there are discrepancies, that is something that can be discussed at a Sprint Retrospective to help figure out what was missed and improve for the future.


07:47 pm November 6, 2020

What are your opinions and suggestions and do you have experience in handling not completed tickets it in JIRA?

Any work that has not been completed, and which still remains to be Done, should be accounted for on the Product Backlog. That work may then be planned into a future Sprint.

The Product Backlog should always indicate how much work is believed to remain, and hence estimates ought to be kept up-to-date by the Development Team.

The toolset used, if any, is irrelevant.


04:53 pm November 9, 2020

The story points have been used, but there was more complexity or time needed that estimated.

I'm with @Thomas Owens on not understanding what you mean by story points being used.  A story point is a guess based on the information you have at the time you make the guess.  They are nothing more than that.  And in the true definition of Story Points, they are not representative of any kind of unit.  They are relative to other guesses you have made.  

I have 2 answers for every case you described. 

  1. The team needs to decide how to address each case and not come up with a standard process.
  2. The work needs to be completed when the team feels it is appropriate to do so.

I have seen cases where an original estimate was a 3 and it ended up taking 2 two week Sprints to complete.  I have also seen cases where an estimate of a 13 took 2 days to complete.  You are guessing based on the information you have.  As new information is obtained, everything can change. Stop making Story Points into something they were not intended to be. Here is a blog post by the man that has been said to have created Story Points that might help you understand their use.  https://ronjeffries.com/articles/019-01ff/story-points/Index.html

I personally agree that anything not finished should be put into the Product Backlog and ordered appropriately with other items that are there.  I do not believe that something not finished must go into the next Sprint.  Sure, not completing work can be considered waste but sometimes the work that has been completed can be enough for a potentially releasable increment. As I stated in #1, every case needs to be addressed individually not by a standard process. 


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