What is planning poker?

Planning poker, also called scrum poker, is a way for an agile team to estimate work together. The team looks at one story or task, and everyone picks a card with the number of story points they think it needs. Nobody sees the other cards until all of them are turned over at once, so no one follows the first number said out loud.

When the cards differ a lot, the people with the highest and lowest cards explain why, and the team votes again until it agrees. Story points follow a scale with growing gaps, like the Fibonacci numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 13, because bigger work is harder to estimate exactly.

Tool description

This tool is a planning poker table that a team shares through a link. Open it, send the link to your team, and everyone who opens it sits at the same table, each on their own device. Write the story you are estimating, let everyone pick a card, and reveal all cards at once when the team is ready.

It needs no account: the room is created when the page opens, and the panel next to the table lists who is in it and has a chat.

Features

  • Hidden votes - the others see only that you picked a card, not which one, until someone reveals the cards
  • Four decks - Fibonacci, modified Fibonacci (0, ½, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100), T-shirt sizes and powers of 2, each with a ? card for "not sure" and a coffee card for "I need a break"
  • Cards you choose - in the options under the table, uncheck the cards your team doesn't use, and they leave everyone's hand
  • Results at a glance - after the reveal, the average, the most common card and how many agree

How it works

The room on the sync server keeps the story, the deck, the cards in it and everyone's picks. Your pick goes to the server and back only to you, so the other browsers don't get your card at all before the reveal. When someone clicks "Reveal cards", the server turns every card over for everyone at the same moment.

"New round" clears all cards, and so does switching to another deck, which comes with all its cards. Taking a card out of the deck before the reveal takes back the picks of it, so whoever picked it picks again. The average counts only the number cards, so ? and the coffee card leave it out.

Limitations

  • Anyone in the room can reveal the cards, start a new round or change the story, the deck and its cards.
  • Nothing is saved. Once everyone has left, the room is gone.

Tips

  • Reloading the page keeps you at the table with your card.
  • Click your card again to take it back before the reveal.