How to use the Agile Story Point Calculator
- 1. Choose a methodScore one story yourself, or paste the team's planning poker votes.
- 2. Enter the scores or votesRate complexity, effort and uncertainty, or list each story with its votes.
- 3. EstimateGet the story points, and see which stories need discussion.
How the estimate is made
Story points measure the relative size of work, combining how complex it is, how much there is and how much is unknown. In Score the story mode, complexity and effort each count for 40% and uncertainty 20%, and higher uncertainty also adds a multiplier, because unknowns tend to grow. The result is placed on the Fibonacci scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21), whose widening gaps reflect that bigger estimates are less precise. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded.
In Team votes mode, each story's estimate is the card nearest the median vote. If the votes are more than two cards apart, the story is flagged for a re-vote after the lowest and highest voters explain their thinking, which is where planning poker earns its value.
Worked example
A story rated complexity 3 (moderate), effort 2 (small) and uncertainty 2 (low) comes out at 5 story points. In the planning poker sample, three of four stories reach agreement: OTP login at 5, the receipt PDF at 8 and the Excel export at 2, giving 15 points. The payment gateway votes run from 5 to 21, so it needs a discussion and a re-vote.
Good practice
- Pick a well-understood reference story as your 3 and compare others with it.
- Split anything at 13 or more before committing to it in a sprint.
- Points belong to one team; don't convert them into hours or compare teams.
Frequently asked questions
Why Fibonacci numbers?
The gaps grow with size, so the team doesn't waste time arguing whether something is a 9 or a 10.
What about 0, ½, 40 and 100?
They're accepted as votes. 0 and ½ mean trivial; 40 and 100 mean the story should be split.
Is the story point calculator free?
Yes. You can open the story point calculator and fill in everything without signing up. When you estimate for the first time, we ask once for your name and WhatsApp number; after that it, and every other Uncodemy tool, opens straight away.