Planning Poker
Planning Poker is a consensus-based agile estimation technique where team members privately select cards representing their estimate, reveal them simultaneously, and discuss differences to reach agreement.
Explanation
In Planning Poker, each team member has a set of cards with values from the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.) or a similar scale. The Product Owner or team member describes a backlog item, the team discusses it briefly, and then each person selects a card that represents their estimate of the item's effort. All cards are revealed simultaneously to prevent anchoring bias.
If estimates are similar, the team quickly agrees on a value. If there is significant disagreement, the highest and lowest estimators explain their reasoning, the team discusses further, and they re-estimate. This process continues until consensus is reached. The discussion is often more valuable than the final number because it surfaces different perspectives and assumptions.
Planning Poker combines expert opinion, analogy, and group discussion. By revealing simultaneously, it avoids the anchoring effect where early estimates influence later ones. It is one of the most popular estimation techniques in agile and works well with teams of three to ten people.
Key Points
- •Uses Fibonacci-sequence cards for relative estimation
- •Simultaneous reveal prevents anchoring bias
- •Disagreements drive valuable discussion about complexity and assumptions
- •Works best with teams of three to ten people
Exam Tip
Planning Poker prevents anchoring by having everyone reveal their estimate simultaneously. The discussion that follows disagreement is where the real value lies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
Story Points
Story points are a unit of measure for expressing the overall effort, complexity, and uncertainty involved in completing a Product Backlog item, used for relative estimation rather than measuring time.
Relative Estimation
Relative Estimation is an agile technique where work items are sized in comparison to each other rather than in absolute units like hours or days, providing faster and more accurate estimates.
Sprint Planning
Sprint Planning is the Scrum event that initiates each Sprint by defining the Sprint Goal, selecting Product Backlog items to work on, and creating an actionable plan for delivering the Increment.
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