Boost Your Agile Team's Productivity Overnight with This One Simple Trick: Scrum Poker!

Scrum poker, also known as planning poker, is not much like the familiar card game. Instead, it is a technique used by Agile teams to estimate the effort required to complete a project or feature. The game is played by team members who assign point values to user stories or tasks to help prioritize the work that needs to be done. This technique is a great way to get everyone on the same page, set expectations, and identify potential roadblocks early on in the process.

In this blog post, we'll go over how to do Scrum poker, step by step.

Step 1: Gather the team

The first step in Scrum poker is to gather the entire team in a room or virtual meeting. This includes the product owner, the Scrum master, and all the developers who will be working on the project. It's important to have everyone present to ensure that everyone's input is taken into account during the estimation process.

Step 2: Choose a moderator

Next, choose a moderator who will facilitate the game. The moderator can be the Scrum master or anyone else on the team who is comfortable leading the session. The moderator's role is to explain the rules, keep the discussion on track, and make sure everyone has a chance to participate.

Step 3: Explain the rules

Before the game begins, the moderator should explain the rules of Scrum poker. Each participant will be given a set of cards with numbers on them. These numbers represent the relative effort required to complete a task. The cards typically range from 0 to 100, with larger numbers indicating greater effort.

Step 4: Start the game

Once everyone understands the rules, the moderator can start the game. The product owner will read out a user story or feature that needs to be estimated, and the team will discuss the effort required to complete the task. Participants can ask questions, share their expertise, and provide insights to help the team arrive at a consensus.

Step 5: Vote

Once the team has discussed the task, each participant will vote on the effort required to complete it. This is done by selecting a card from their set of cards and placing it face down on the table. Once everyone has voted, the moderator will ask everyone to reveal their cards simultaneously. If there is a consensus on the estimate, the team can move on to the next task. If there is a significant difference in estimates, the team should discuss the reasons for the difference and vote again.

Step 6: Repeat

The team should repeat the process for each task until all the work has been estimated. This process can take several hours, depending on the complexity of the project and the number of tasks that need to be estimated.

Step 7: Use the estimates

Once all the tasks have been estimated, the team can use the estimates to prioritize the work that needs to be done. The estimates can also be used to create a burndown chart, which is a visual representation of the team's progress over time.

In conclusion, Scrum poker is an effective way to estimate the effort required to complete a project or feature. By involving the entire team in the estimation process, Scrum poker helps to ensure that everyone's input is taken into account, and the team can work together to identify potential roadblocks and set realistic expectations. By following the steps outlined above, you can conduct a successful Scrum poker session and set your team up for success.