Planning Poker

Plan • Vote • Repeat

Planning poker rules: simple facilitator guide

The core planning poker rules, plus a lightweight script a facilitator can use in a real meeting.

Planning poker is simple: explain the work, vote privately, reveal together, discuss surprises, then agree a score.

The basic rules

Each estimator gets the same set of cards. The cards usually follow a Fibonacci style scale such as 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and 21.

The facilitator reads one story. The team asks questions. Everyone picks a card in private. The system starts an auto countdown and reveals all scores at the same time as soon as the last vote is in, or when the facilitator chooses to end voting early.

What the numbers mean

Story points are relative size, not hours. A 5 point story should feel bigger than a 3 and smaller than an 8. The team decides what those numbers mean by comparing against recent work.

Do not pretend the numbers are scientific. They are a shared shorthand for effort, uncertainty, and risk.

What to do after reveal

If everyone is close, take the estimate and continue. If the spread is wide, ask the high and low voters to explain their view.

Vote again after the discussion. If the team still cannot settle, the story probably needs splitting, more discovery, or clearer acceptance criteria.

Facilitator script

Try this: "We are estimating size, not hours. Read the story, ask questions now, then vote privately. If we split, high and low explain their assumptions, then we vote once more."

That short script keeps the ritual clear without making it feel like agile theatre.

Rules worth keeping

• Vote privately before reveal
• Let the highest and lowest voters speak first after a split
• Revote after new information appears
• Do not spend ten minutes polishing one number
• Do not estimate stories the team does not understand