Running planning poker sessions
Planning poker is an estimation game: each participant picks a card representing effort or complexity for a story, then the team reveals together to discuss divergence.
Create a planning poker table
- Open Tables in Dailybot.
- Start from a planning poker template or create a table whose columns match your estimation workflow.
- Add one row (or section) per work item or story you are sizing.
- Add participants who should vote.
- Send the table via DM so votes stay private until reveal.
- Communicate the scale you use (Fibonacci, t-shirt sizes, etc.) in the title or instructions.
Card values
Common decks:
| Deck | Values (example) |
|---|---|
| Fibonacci | 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ? |
| Modified Fibonacci | Similar with caps for your team’s max slice |
| Powers of two | 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 |
Include ? or coffee when someone needs clarification instead of a number.
How voting works
Participants open the table from chat, pick a value for the active item, and submit. Other people’s votes stay hidden until the facilitator starts reveal for that row.
The facilitator should wait until everyone has voted or call time so the average is not biased by early reveals. If someone is absent, note them as skip or exclude them from that item so the team does not wait indefinitely.
Reveal and discussion
- When everyone has voted (or time is up), use Reveal for that item.
- Compare numbers. Large gaps mean people understood the work differently — ask the high and low voters to explain.
- Re-vote if needed; record the agreed estimate in your tracker after the session.
Capture assumptions in the same breath as the number (dependencies, definition of done) so the estimate stays valid when the story moves to sprint planning.