Planning poker, also called scrum poker or pointing poker, is a consensus-based, gamified technique for estimating effort or relative size of development goals in software development. Agile teams worldwide use planning poker to improve their sprint planning process and create more accurate estimates for user stories and tasks.
During a planning poker session, team members use numbered cards to vote on the complexity of each user story, promoting equal participation and reducing estimation bias. The Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21) is commonly used in planning poker estimation as it reflects the inherent uncertainty in larger estimates and helps teams focus on relative sizing rather than precise time estimates.
Planning poker estimation is particularly effective for remote and distributed agile teams who need a structured approach to sprint planning. By combining the wisdom of the entire team, planning poker helps identify risks early, improves team communication, and leads to more reliable sprint commitments. Many Scrum Masters and Product Owners consider planning poker an essential part of their agile estimation toolkit.
With PlanningPoker.live, teams can conduct efficient planning poker sessions online with features like JIRA integration, custom card sets, and anonymous voting - making the estimation process seamless for both co-located and remote agile teams. Planning poker has become the industry standard for agile estimation in companies of all sizes, from startups to enterprises like Google, Amazon, and Netflix.