Management compares story points between teams. Is that useful?
Invalid cross-team comparisonDifferent teams may estimate and split work differently, so raw point totals are not a reliable productivity comparison. Discuss outcomes, flow, quality, and context instead.
What to do now
- Explain how each team estimates
- Identify the management question behind the comparison
- Choose relevant outcome and flow evidence
- Avoid incentives that reward point inflation
When to escalate
Escalate when
The metric drives staffing or performance decisions unsupported by evidence.
Who decides
The relevant Scrum accountability or delivery owner
Example
Two teams are compared on delivered outcomes and reliability rather than their incompatible point scales.
Mistake to avoid
Treating a larger point total as proof of greater business value.
Prevent a repeat
Inspect useful outcomes and feedback; apply Scrum-specific rules only when the team is actually using Scrum.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Tasks
- Documents
- Resources
Represent agreed work and evidence with enabled task features; do not imply native Scrum automation or certified Scrum compliance. See the platform
Related cases
- How do we show agile progress to executives without misleading percentages?Outcome-focused adaptive reporting
- Our team has a different definition of ready for every item. Is that a problem?Inconsistent work preparation
- How do we compare projects without rewarding easy work?Unfair performance comparison
- How do we manage dependencies between business and technical work?Cross-discipline handoff gap