How to run a Planning Poker session

Before the session

Bad estimation sessions usually trace back to bad prep, not bad facilitation. Two things to do first:

• Refine the backlog. Each story needs clear acceptance criteria, a known owner area (or a "cross-cutting" flag), and roughly the same level of detail as the others. If half your items are one-line tickets and the other half are multi-paragraph specs, the estimates won't be comparable.
• Pick a reference story. Grab one already-shipped story and call it a "5" (or whatever your team's baseline is). Every other estimate is relative to that anchor.

Ground rules in 30 seconds

Say these out loud at the top of the session — especially with new teammates:

1. We're estimating relative effort, not hours.
2. Don't show your card or call out numbers until everyone has played.
3. Highest and lowest cards explain themselves. That's a feature, not a punishment.
4. ? means you genuinely can't estimate. ☕ means you need a break.

The four phases of a round

1. Read & clarify (1–2 min)

The facilitator reads the story aloud. Anyone — not just engineers — can ask clarifying questions. Goal is shared understanding, not design. If the conversation drifts into how to build it, park it.

2. Vote (10–30 sec)

Everyone plays a card privately. In a remote tool like this one, cards stay hidden automatically. In person, keep them face down until the reveal.

3. Reveal & discuss (1–4 min)

Flip every card at once. If the spread is one step (all 3s and 5s, say), take the higher number and move on. If it's wider, ask the highest and lowest to explain. Nine times out of ten you'll find:

• The story isn't well understood — split it, or send it back to refinement.
• Someone knows about hidden complexity (auth, migration, an edge case).
• Someone has done this before and knows it's smaller than it looks.

4. Re-vote (10 sec)

Quick chat, then re-vote. Most rounds settle in two votes. If you're on a third, the story needs more refinement, not more discussion.

Time-box ruthlessly

Per-story time-box: 3–5 minutes. Session time-box: 30–45. When you hit it, ship the current estimate or punt the story back to the backlog. Teams that know you'll enforce the time-box prepare better.

Common pitfalls

Plenty. We keep a working list at Planning Poker mistakes — the recurring ways sessions go wrong, and what to do about each.

Remote and hybrid teams

Run the session over video — you want tone of voice and the visual cue of someone about to speak. Use a Planning Poker tool (like this one) to keep votes hidden. Honour system in chat is a recipe for anchoring.

Run your first session

Start a session, share the link with your team, and walk through the four phases on one easy story before tackling the real backlog. Want the background? What Planning Poker is and where it came from.