“Should you story-point bugs or spikes?”

This question never dies. I see it asked all the time. Maybe it’s one you’ve asked.

But I’m not going to answer it today.

Instead, I’m going to try to kill the question itself.

Of course, there are many reasons you definitely should use story points for bugs and spikes. There are also just as many reasons you definitely should not.

And that’s the catch: What you should do depends on your goal! What problem are you trying to solve?

Why are you using story points? Answer that question first. Then it should be obvious whether or not it makes sense to use story points for bugs or spikes.

And if you can’t answer that question, then you probably shouldn’t be using story points at all. Which also answers the original question! 😀