THE IVOTE GUIDE
How to Run Planning Poker Online
Planning poker helps a team compare its understanding of a piece of work. Each participant chooses an estimate independently before the team reveals cards and discusses the differences. The conversation matters more than the number.
Prepare the story before choosing cards
Start with one backlog item. Explain the intended outcome, acceptance criteria, dependencies, and any constraints. Give the people who will do the work time to ask questions. A vote on an unclear story usually measures different assumptions rather than shared understanding.
Choose a consistent estimation scale. Fibonacci story points work well for relative sizing; T-shirt sizes can help with an earlier, less detailed backlog. Keep the scale consistent across a session so estimates remain comparable.
Estimate independently, then reveal together
Create an iVote room, share the invite link, and ask everyone to choose a card. Room and participant names are optional. Each participant can change their selection until the host reveals the votes. Estimates are hidden in the interface before the reveal to reduce anchoring on a colleague’s choice.
Ask the participants with the highest and lowest estimates to explain their reasoning. A large spread may uncover a missing dependency, an overlooked test case, or a different interpretation of scope. Avoid treating the largest number as a mistake to be corrected.
Use the discussion to decide what comes next
After clarifying assumptions, reset the round and vote again if it will help. If estimates still differ, decide whether to split the story, investigate an unknown, or record an estimate with an explicit assumption. Repeated voting cannot resolve a question that needs research.
Use the average, median, and distribution as discussion aids rather than an automatic final estimate. Averages can hide disagreement, and nonnumeric choices such as a question mark should prompt a conversation.
Keep remote sessions focused
Make sure every participant has the same story context, allow quiet thinking time, and keep one conversation active at a time. A host can facilitate without voting using Room settings. Share the room link in your team’s meeting or backlog tool so people can join the same session.
Planning poker estimates are a team planning aid. They are not a measure of individual productivity, and point totals from different teams are not directly comparable. Review estimates against experience and adjust your shared reference stories over time.