What is scrum poker?

Scrum Poker is a collaborative technique used by agile teams to estimate the effort or complexity of user stories or tasks. It allows team members to contribute their individual insights and knowledge to arrive at a shared understanding of the work involved.

Why yet another online scrum poker?

It's true that there are many similar scrum pokers available. Some have more features than this one, but most of them are not free, or they are bloated with ads, or require you to signup.

I wanted to create a scrum poker that is really free to use for everyone, and one that is open-source, so anyone can contribute. You can find a link to Github on bottom of this page.

Do you need a feature that does not exist yet, but don't know how to code? No worries, you can still go to Github and open an issue for everyone to see, and maybe it gets implemented. Ideas are welcome!

Want to support the development of this app? Github sponsors is the way to do just that, just go to https://github.com/sponsors/tperamaki for more information.

How does Scrum Poker work?

1. Gather your team: Bring together the individuals involved in the estimation process. The people participating in the estimation should only be the ones that are actually implementing the features, so no product owners or such.

2. Select an user story or task: Choose a specific item from your project backlog that needs to be estimated. Break it down into manageable chunks if necessary.

3. Assign story points: Story points are a relative unit of measurement used in Scrum Poker to represent the effort, complexity, or size of a user story or task. Each participant will assign a story point value to the selected item independently and privately. Story points cannot be linked to working days or hours, but are instead an estimation that can be used to compare to other tasks that have been estimated in the same way.

4. Show the cards: Everyone reveals their assigned card simultaneously, so others won't be able to affect the choices of other individuals.

5. Discuss and clarify: If there is a wide range of estimates, encourage team members to discuss their reasoning and share their perspectives. This fosters communication and allows for a better understanding of the task.

6. Choose an estimate: After discussion choose together an estimate that everyone can agree with, if estimates are really close to each other, it might not need discussion and the average can be chosen, but if some estimate is clearly smaller or larger, then discussion is needed.

How does Scrum Poker help teams:

1. Foster collaboration: By involving all team members in the estimation process, Scrum Poker encourages collaboration and ensures that everyone's input is considered.

2. Promote transparency: The open discussion during Scrum Poker promotes transparency within the team. It allows for a deeper understanding of the work involved and any potential challenges.

3. Improve estimation accuracy: The collective wisdom and diverse perspectives of the team result in more accurate estimations. Scrum Poker helps eliminate biases and minimizes the risk of underestimating or overestimating tasks.

4. Enhance team communication: Scrum Poker facilitates communication and knowledge sharing among team members. It encourages active participation and provides a platform for individuals to express their thoughts and concerns.

Remember, the goal of Scrum Poker is not to find the "right" answer, but to leverage the collective intelligence of the team to arrive at a consensus estimate. It is a valuable tool for agile teams to plan and prioritize their work effectively.

Start estimating with Scrum Poker today and experience the benefits of collaborative estimation in your projects. Happy planning!