Planning Poker is a project estimation tool. It is used to estimate for example how long a task will take, how difficult it is or what its priority should be.

To host a planning poker session assemble a team of estimators and a set of user stories that have to be estimated. Then, make a decision of how you're going to express the estimates (e.g. hours, days, priority, difficulty,...) and choose a deck of cards.

Read a user story and ask questions about it if needed. After the user story is clear to everyone they should each pick a card that resembles their estimation and keep it face down. When every estimator has selected their card the cards are turned face up. If the estimates vary a lot the estimators should discuss their reasoning on why their estimates are so different. After the discussion, go again! And repeat this process until consensus has been reached. When in need for a break, go for the coffee card!

At JArchitects we use Planning Poker to plan and complete our projects in an agile manner. This way we can satisfy our clients' needs to the best of our potential in timely fashion. The App was made available for free so it may be just as useful for your projects.

The Planning Poker App offers four different kinds of decks: Standard, Fibonacci, Playing Cards and T-Shirt sizes. There's bound to be a deck that suits your project's needs.

It has been made available for iPhone and iPad for free and includes different layouts, flip animations and sound effects.

An Apple Watch can be used in company with this app to show your selected card to the rest of the estimators. Use the app or the Apple Watch's crown to flip the card.