PK0-005 Tools and Documentation Practice Question
During a software development project, the team estimates story points using planning poker. A story is estimated at 8 points, while a similar story was previously estimated at 5 points. What is the primary reason for using relative sizing with story points?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
To compare the effort of stories relative to each other
Story points are a relative measure of effort; the exact values are less important than the relative comparison. Planning poker facilitates consensus.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
To assign story points based on the developer’s skill level
Why it's wrong here
Assigning points by developer skill measures individual capacity, not the effort a story demands, so identical work would score differently per assignee and break cross-team velocity comparisons. Skill-based allocation belongs in capacity planning or task assignment, where matching expertise to work is the goal — not in relative estimation of story size.
- ✗
To track the number of story points completed per day
Why it's wrong here
Story points measure relative effort, complexity and uncertainty, not elapsed time, so completed points per day is not their purpose. Velocity tracks throughput across sprints. Counting points per day is tempting because it resembles progress tracking, and it would be correct if the team were measuring delivery rate rather than sizing work.
- ✗
To calculate exact hours needed for each story
Why it's wrong here
Story points deliberately measure relative effort, complexity and uncertainty, not elapsed time; converting them to exact hours defeats that purpose and ignores team velocity. Time-based estimation is tempting where fixed-hour forecasts are contractually required, such as billing a client per hour, but planning poker's 8-versus-5 comparison expresses relative size only.
- ✓
To compare the effort of stories relative to each other
Why this is correct
Story points measure relative effort, complexity and uncertainty rather than absolute hours, so an 8-point story is simply larger than a 5-point one. Planning poker exploits this by having the team compare each story against known reference stories, satisfying the relative sizing requirement.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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