ScrumX Planning Poker - Planning Poker

This page provides comprehensive guidelines on utilizing the app. It is specifically tailored for the session owner, typically the Scrum Master or Product Owner, while also encompassing instructions for team members.

Setting up a Session

The initial step involves setting up a new session by utilizing the Create Session form located on the front page. Select a name for your session, which does not necessarily have to be unique or extraordinary; it mainly serves as an overview of running sessions and as a title for your session view. Next, choose a card set for your session from the provided drop-down box. These card sets are the most popular ones, with some contributed by other users. If you require a different card set, simply click the question mark next to the drop-down to navigate to the file and open a pull request on GitHub.

Once you have determined the name and card set for your session, you have the option to designate it as private. Unlike public sessions, private ones can only be observed if spectators provide the password. Private sessions also necessitate joining members to either join through an invite or session ID and password. Once you have completed the form, click "Create" and you will be redirected to your newly created session.

Invite Members

Once you have created the session, it's time to invite members and commence story estimation. Your team members have three options to join the session:

Session ID: Members can join the session by entering the session ID, which is displayed in the top-left corner on the main page. If you have chosen a private session, you must also provide joining members with the password for this joining process
Join URL: At the bottom-left of the session view, below the QR code, you will find the URL to join the session. If you created the session, the URL will also contain the session token, which is necessary for authorization and access control. You can share this link with your team members to invite them to join the session.
QR Code: The QR code represents the same join URL mentioned earlier. It serves as a convenient option for teams who are physically present in the same room. Instead of typing the session ID or copying and pasting the link, team members can use any QR code reader on their smartphones to quickly join the session.

Regardless of the method chosen by your team members, they all follow the Join Session form. Once they enter their member name, and in some cases the session password, they will be redirected to the member view of your session. They have the freedom to choose any name as their member name, but it must be unique within your session. This is important to ensure that their votes can be identified correctly. It is not possible to have two members with the same name, as they would share the same view and overwrite each other's votes in the process.

The member view is designed to be user-friendly on mobile devices. It prominently displays the title and description of the current poll at the top, followed by all the cards from the selected card set. Additionally, at the bottom of the page, there is a brief explanation of the voting process.

Load Stories (optional)

ScrumX Planning Poker provides integrations for GitHub and JIRA, with additional plugins currently in development. If you wish to utilize either of these integrations, simply select the corresponding option from the tab control at the top. Then, enter the required information to retrieve issues from the server. It's important to note that your credentials are not stored anywhere and are only transmitted through an encrypted connection. If you have any concerns, you can verify the security measures on GitHub or follow the instructions to deploy the app on-premise.

First Estimation

To initiate the first estimation, you can either enter the topic and description of your feature or select an issue from the list if you have chosen one of the plugins in the previous step. Once you click "Start," the poll will commence, and the stopwatch in the top-right corner will begin. Team members will now see the title and description of the current story on their devices and can proceed with voting.

Team members can place their votes by selecting one of the cards displayed on their screens. When a vote is cast, the selected card will be highlighted in red, indicating that the server is processing the vote. Once the vote is successfully placed, the card will be highlighted in green. In your session view, you will see a card with a question mark (?) above the member's name, indicating that their vote is pending. Until the poll is completed and everyone has voted, team members have the option to change their minds. They can retract their vote by tapping on the selected card again or by selecting a different card.

Poll Completed

Once every team member has placed their vote, the poll is closed, and the cards are flipped. At this point, the stopwatch stops, displaying the overall estimation time. If the team reaches a consensus directly, all cards are highlighted in green, indicating a successful estimation. However, if there is no immediate consensus, the highest and lowest estimations are highlighted in red. Team members with the highlighted cards are then given the opportunity to explain their decisions. After all arguments have been heard, you can simply restart the poll by clicking "Start." This process is typically repeated until the team agrees on a value.

After completing the first poll, the statistics feature becomes enabled. The statistics are displayed in a table located at the bottom-left of the session view, and they are updated with each completed poll. You have the option to enable or disable specific values based on your interests.

Wrapping up