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Planning Poker

Estimate story points together in real time. Everyone votes simultaneously with Fibonacci cards - no anchoring bias, no groupthink, no sign-up required.

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No account required. Share a code and you are in. Password-protected rooms supported.

What is planning poker?

Planning poker (also called Scrum poker) is a consensus-based estimation technique used by agile teams to size user stories or backlog items. Each participant holds a hand of cards representing Fibonacci numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21) plus question mark and coffee cards. Everyone selects a card in secret, then all cards are revealed simultaneously.

The simultaneous reveal is what makes it work. When nobody can see what others are choosing, estimates are independent. Outliers spark the most useful conversations - a 2 and a 13 on the same story almost always means someone knows something the rest of the room does not.

Why teams use planning poker

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Prevents anchoring bias

Everyone votes at the same time. Nobody can anchor to the senior engineer's number or the product owner's optimism before they have formed their own estimate.

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Surfaces disagreements early

A 2 and a 13 on the same story is a signal, not a problem. It means someone understands the complexity that others missed - and that conversation is exactly what you need before committing.

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Gets everyone involved

Quieter team members are just as likely to surface a critical insight as the loudest person in the room. Every voice gets an equal card.

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Builds shared understanding

Discussing outlier estimates forces the team to align on scope, assumptions, and acceptance criteria - before the sprint starts, not during it.

When to use it

Sprint planning

Estimate the stories you are about to commit to. Catching a misunderstood requirement now costs minutes. Catching it mid-sprint costs days.

Backlog refinement

Size items before they hit sprint planning so the meeting stays focused on commitment, not discovery.

Story splitting

When a story gets a 13 or a 21, use poker to explore whether it can be split. The discussion almost always reveals a natural seam.

How it works

1

Host creates a room and shares the 6-character code with the team.

2

Everyone joins by entering their name - no account needed.

3

Host sets the ticket or topic for the round. The Jira Chrome extension lets you push a ticket directly from Jira.

4

Each person privately selects a Fibonacci card representing their estimate.

5

Host reveals all votes at once. The average and vote breakdown appear immediately.

6

If there is high variance, the team discusses. Outliers explain their reasoning. Then everyone re-votes.

7

Host resets for the next round. Repeat until the backlog is estimated.

Ready to estimate smarter?

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