During the initial stage of a project, the team estimated activities for the next iteration in story points. It was agreed that each story point…

The significant disparity in estimates, with some activities at 100 story points, indicates these are likely epics or compound stories, not manageable user stories. In Agile frameworks, work items should be small enough to be completed within a single iteration. The presence of a 100-point item introduces high risk, uncertainty, and makes it impossible to deliver within a typical iteration. The correct project management practice is to guide the team in decomposing these large activities into smaller, independent, and valuable user stories that can be estimated more accurately and completed incrementally.

1. Project Management Institute. (2021). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Seventh Edition.

Section 2.4

DELIVERY PERFORMANCE DOMAIN: This section emphasizes breaking down work. It states

"Large work items are decomposed into smaller pieces that can be completed in shorter time frames. This approach provides for a continuous flow of delivery of value

feedback

and learning." (p. 69). This directly supports the decomposition of the 100-point activity.

2. Project Management Institute. (2017). Agile Practice Guide.

Section 5.2.3

Backlog Refinement: This section explicitly addresses the need to break down large stories. It states

"Large stories need to be broken down into smaller stories until they are small enough to be worked on in an upcoming iteration... This activity of creating and refining stories is called backlog refinement." (p. 50). This aligns perfectly with the action of breaking down the larger activities.