How to Count Function Points from User Stories

I was recently involved in a consulting engagement where Agile methodologies were being implemented with User Stories as the documentation standard. The organization had used function points (FPs) for years on their waterfall projects and were wondering if they could use them for their Agile methodology – and if User Stories would be a good input into the FP counting process. The answer I provided was a resounding “YES.” Having User Stories is actually a huge advantage to counting FPs, especially early in the lifecycle, because User Stories are typically focused on the user perspective, just like FPs.

The only difficulty in using FPs in Agile methodologies is determining what to count and when to count. As with any metric, this always goes back to the purpose. For example, if you want to know the size of the final delivered product, then you count the FPs at the end of the project. If you want to estimate effort for a Sprint or Program Increment (PI), then you need to count at the beginning of the Sprint or PI.  The key is defining the purpose early in order to have access to what you need at the time of data collection.

When actually counting FPs from User Stories, there are a few tips that help with the process. Depending on the level of the User Stories, more questions or assumptions may be needed to get to an accurate FP count. There are also key words used in User Stories that may help identify FP components (e.g. Maintain, Report, Enter, Select). Often User Stories equate to transactional functions in FPs, so it is important for the FP analyst to identify data functions as they go along.

More tips and advice, including real-life examples, will be provided in my upcoming webinar, “Counting Function Points from User Stories,” taking place on Wednesday September 28, 2016 at 12:00 pm EST. Please register here. If you have any questions before the webinar, just leave a comment and I’ll be sure to address them during the presentation.

Lori Limbacher
Estimation Specialist; Certified Function Point Specialist (CFPS)

This blog was originally posted at https://www.softwarevalue.com/insights/blog/posts/2016/september/how-to-count-function-points-from-user-stories/.