A team is estimating story points. They estimate that the story falls between a large (13) and a medium (5) and they assign a story point of 8. What is this technique called?

Question

Options

• AAffinity estimation
• BFibonacci estimation
• CTriangulation

• A
  4% (2)
• B
  10% (5)
• C
  86% (43)

Explanation

Triangulation is correct because the team uses two known reference points - a medium (5) and a large (13) - to position the new story between them, landing on 8. The story is "triangulated" by anchoring it relative to already-understood benchmarks, rather than estimated in isolation.

Affinity estimation (A) is wrong because that technique involves silently grouping stories into size buckets based on gut feel and relative similarity - there's no deliberate comparison between two specific anchor stories.

Fibonacci estimation (B) is a distractor because Fibonacci describes the scale being used (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…), not the method of arriving at the estimate. The fact that 5, 8, and 13 are all Fibonacci numbers makes this a tempting wrong answer.

Memory tip: Think of a triangle - you need three points. Two known stories (5 and 13) form the base, and the unknown story is the apex you're placing between them. Three points = triangulation.

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