Story points were originally a euphamism for ”ideal days”.

Actual timeline estimates multiple ideal days by some “load factor”, or reality multiplier that tries to account for distractions and volatility in effectiveness—3 is a good value to start with. The term “points” is only used because speaking in terms of days but actually meaning 3x as many days is confusing to others.rJ1


  1. Ron Jeffries, “Story Points Revisited,” May 23, 2019, https://ronjeffries.com/articles/019-01ff/story-points/Index.html. (See notes.)