Estimation - Planning Poker
❓What is it
- It is a consensus-based estimation technique that produces quick and reliable estimates backed by the whole development team. It is highly recommended to purchase a purposed planning poker card deck.
- A good planning poker card deck is based on the Fibonacci series- 1,2,3,5,8,13,20,40,100
👥Who
- Everyone that does the work is involved, so typically only the developers should be involved
- If the work item is wholly related to a specialism, e.g. research, UI design, testing then only team members who have experience of that specialism should take part.
🛠 Running the technique
- Agree consensus on average value using a previously worked backlog item, e.g. a value of 5
- The backlog item is presented by the product manager or delivery manager, with a short team discussion
- Each team member allowed to vote, does so privately. The cards are then all shown.
- If the scores are in general consensus, e.g. 3, 2,5, 3, 3, then the score is recorded
- Where there is notable variation, e.g. 2, 3,3,5,10,5, then the members with the highest and lowest scores share their thinking. Everyone then repeats the activity, until consensus is reached.