How to Run Your First Planning Poker Session

Planning poker sounds complicated until you do it once. Here's how to get your first session running without confusion.

What you need before you start

• A prioritized backlog with at least 10 stories ready for estimation
• Acceptance criteria written on each story
• A facilitator (usually the Scrum Master)
• A dedicated estimation tool so everyone votes simultaneously

If your backlog isn't refined, stop here. Estimating vague stories is a waste of everyone's time.

Step 1: Explain the card values once

Go over the scale before the first story. Fibonacci (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21) is the most common. A 1 is a trivial change; a 13 is a large, well-understood story; a 21 is something you probably need to split.

Don't over-explain. Let the first few votes generate the real conversation.

Step 2: Read the story aloud

The facilitator reads the title and acceptance criteria. Give developers 60 seconds to think. Don't allow discussion before voting - it anchors the group.

Step 3: Everyone votes at the same time

In a tool like One More Point, cards are revealed simultaneously. This matters. When people vote sequentially, later voters anchor to earlier ones. Simultaneous reveal surfaces genuine disagreement.

Step 4: Discuss only when there's a spread

If everyone votes 3, move on. Discussion only adds value when there's a spread - say, a 2 and an 8. Ask the highest estimator to explain first. They usually spotted a dependency or edge case the others missed.

Step 5: Re-vote after discussion

One round of discussion, then re-vote. If there's still disagreement, take the higher number or split the story. Don't negotiate your way to an average.

Common first-timer mistakes

These overlap with the mistakes experienced teams make too:

• Letting the senior engineer vote first (anchors the team)
• Spending 15 minutes on a single story
• Treating the number as a time estimate ("3 means 3 days")
• Estimating stories that aren't fully defined

Your first session will feel slow. By the third, the team finds its rhythm and sessions cut to half the time.