I've been noticing that scope creep often happens in my projects, and I think it might stem from unmanaged expectations. I keep an eye on our task board, but I feel like story pointing doesn't quite reflect how long tasks will really take. Is it true that story points are just estimating effort and not time? Also, is scope creep really mainly caused by not managing expectations? How can I get a better handle on this?
2 Answers
Story points should reflect the effort needed to complete a task. That includes everything like coding, testing, and even getting code reviewed. If there's work to be done, it should be in those story points. Otherwise, you might be underestimating the effort required.
One thing to remember is never to say 'that’s easy, we can do it in a week' unless you really know what’s involved. Often, we underestimate the actual tasks needed.
Right?
Feels like companies often use story points more as time estimates rather than measuring complexity. Is that common?