Planning Poker Instructions

How to play Planning Poker?

1. Each member of the team gets the complete set of cards of one suit.

2. Somebody presents the work items (e.g. «Product Owner», product manager, project leader).

3. The work item is discussed, discussion results (details, assumptions, risks) are documented.

4. Each estimator thinks about the estimate and places one

according card face down (numbers hidden) on the table.

5. When all estimates/ cards are on the table, the cards are shown.

6. If the estimates disagree, the reasons for the differences

are discussed, typically first by the estimators aiming

lowest and highest, discussion results (details, assumptions, risks) are documented.

7. Steps 4 to 6 are repeated until consensus is reached

(can be shortened if a single outlier agrees to go with all

others).

What is the Meaning of the Cards?

: "Zero": already done

: "80": break down

: "Infinite": much too big

: "Question Mark": not the faintest idea

: "Cup": need a break

The numbers can stand for hours but also other quantities like cost (in 1000's), risk, "Story Points". In Scrum it is frowned upon directly estimating hours, but in many organizations hours are important. This is why our card deck ist optimized for estimation of hours.

The card "Zero" means that this is already done.

In the context of estimatiing hours, the card "80" shows that the work package should be broken down.

"Infinite" shows that the item is much too large and must be broken down.

With the "Question Mark" one can show that the work is completely unclear for oneself.

And with the "Cup" one can proclaim the need for a break.