Planning Poker

Planning Poker is a collaborative estimation technique used to evaluate the effort required for tasks. With this approach, the team collectively assigns estimates to Product Backlog Items that will be pulled into the next sprint.

Although Planning Poker is most commonly used in software development, it can be applied by any Scrum team.

To run a Planning Poker session, you will need to:

• prepare a list of items that require estimation

• gather the team members involved in those items (and, if possible, invite a facilitator)

• provide estimation cards

Cards

Planning Poker typically uses special decks with Fibonacci numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, as well as larger values like 20, 40, 100. In this context, the numbers represent Story Points.

A Planning Poker deck also includes special cards:

• Question mark (❓) — indicates uncertainty about the estimate;

• Infinity (∞) — the task is too large to estimate; it should either be decomposed or removed from the sprint;

• Coffee cup (☕) — the team needs a break.

If you don’t have such cards, you can use regular playing cards instead. For example: Ace, 2, 3, 5, 8, and King (as a substitute for infinity).

For distributed teams, many online tools are available to run Planning Poker sessions.

How it works

Each participant receives a deck of cards of the same color.

The Product Owner presents the item to be estimated — explaining its purpose, value to the product, and possible implementation options.

The participants then vote by selecting one card from their deck and placing it face down on the table.

Once everyone has voted, the cards are revealed simultaneously.

• If all cards show the same number, the estimate is approved unanimously.

• If there are significant differences, the team members who chose the highest and lowest estimates explain their reasoning.

As with a Retrospective, the facilitator monitors the discussion. It is important to ensure that the process remains constructive — not turning into bargaining or personal arguments.

The discussion continues until the team reaches consensus. If necessary, another round of voting is conducted.