Story Points are an abstract estimation unit that teams use to assess the relative effort and complexity of backlog items. They do not measure in hours or days but in relation to each other: if a reference story has two points and a new story appears twice as complex, it receives five points. The Fibonacci sequence serves as the scale because it deliberately becomes less precise for larger items.
In practice, the team estimates together using Planning Poker. Each team member places a card with their estimate face-down, then all cards are revealed simultaneously. Large discrepancies trigger discussions that are often more valuable than the number itself, because they uncover differing assumptions about complexity, risk, or unknowns. Over multiple Sprints, a Velocity emerges that enables forecasting, such as how many Sprints a certain portion of the backlog will still require.
Story Points go back to Ron Jeffries and Extreme Programming. Planning Poker was popularized by Mike Cohn. It is important never to compare Story Points as a performance measure between teams, since the scale is team-specific.
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