In the fast-moving world of product development, particularly within a dual-track agile framework, the ability to plan and execute effectively can make or break a product’s success. At the core of that planning lies a deceptively simple tool: story points.
If you're looking to level up your agile game, understanding how to estimate work with story points is a great place to start. At Roaring Infotech, we've refined our process over the years to not just estimate work—but to use estimation as a tool to drive collaboration, clarity, and smarter decision-making.
Story points are a relative unit of measure used to estimate the effort and complexity involved in delivering a user story. Unlike time-based estimates (e.g., hours or days), story points factor in more than just how long something might take. They account for:
The beauty of story points lies in comparative estimation — we’re not trying to predict an exact duration, we’re comparing this task to others we’ve already completed to determine how “big” it is in relation.
Our teams use a structured yet collaborative approach to estimating user stories with story points. Here's a snapshot of our process:
Every team works with an Estimation Matrix that acts as a reference catalog of previously completed user stories and their point values. We follow the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13) to represent increasing levels of effort—because work rarely scales linearly.
To actually assign story points, we use Planning Poker—a gamified, consensus-driven method that keeps everyone engaged and aligned. Here's how it works:
This method encourages discussion, surfaces hidden complexity, and avoids anchoring bias.
Before each sprint, the team reviews and assigns story points to all planned user stories. Then, based on our velocity (total story points completed in the last sprint), we determine how many stories we can realistically take on.
Here are a few key takeaways we've learned through hands-on experience to help teams estimate better and faster without overcomplicating the process:
Estimation is a tool for better planning, not perfection. Keeping it lightweight, iterative, and team-driven is key to long-term success.
Story points are more than just a number — they’re a communication tool. When used effectively, they bring clarity and alignment across your entire team.
At Roaring Infotech, using story points has helped our teams work smarter—not harder—and maintain clarity as we scale products across fast-paced roadmaps.
If you're serious about improving your agile development workflow, start by mastering your estimation process. Story points won’t solve everything, but they will give you a common language to talk about work—and that’s a powerful step forward.
Want to dig deeper into epics and user stories themselves? Check out our full guide on [Building Agile Products with Epics and User Stories].