Can story points be non-numerical values in JIRA?

[barbara t]

Trying to use the shirt sizing method. Does JIRA allow non-numerical values for story points?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

No, they're numerical because it works with numbers.

Best you can do is agree with your users what number a shirt-size should be.  Or use a custom field for it first, and use story points for more accurate numbers afterwards

[Phill Fox]

Further to the reply from @Nic Brough [Adaptavist] there are lots of reports and other actions built around the story points and these would not function if you used a shirt-size approach. In particular you may consider the scope size for a sprint, the epic/release burndown report...