Scrum Poker

How Scrum Poker fits into Scrum

Scrum doesn't prescribe a specific estimation technique - the Scrum Guide only says the Developers are responsible for sizing Product Backlog items. Planning Poker (or "Scrum Poker") became the de facto standard for doing that sizing as a group instead of one person guessing alone. For the mechanics of an actual round, see What Is Planning Poker?; this page focuses on where it happens inside the Scrum process, not how a round itself works.

Backlog refinement

Most teams run Scrum Poker during backlog refinement (also called "grooming") - a recurring session, separate from Sprint Planning, where the Developers review upcoming Product Backlog items with the Product Owner, ask clarifying questions, and estimate them. Doing this ahead of Sprint Planning means the team walks into planning with already-estimated, already-understood stories instead of estimating cold under time pressure.

Sprint Planning

Some teams also estimate during Sprint Planning itself - typically for a story that slipped through refinement unestimated, or one whose scope changed since it was last sized. It's less common as the primary venue, since Sprint Planning already has a fixed agenda (deciding the Sprint Goal and pulling in work), and re-estimating from scratch there eats into that time.

Who's involved

• Developers do the actual estimating - the Scrum Guide places sizing responsibility with the people who will do the work.
• Product Owner presents the backlog items, answers scope and priority questions, and uses the resulting estimates for release and roadmap planning - but doesn't vote on size.
• Facilitator (often the Scrum Master, though it can rotate) keeps the session moving: introduces each story, runs the reveal, and calls time when discussion drags. See facilitator tips for specifics.

Scrum Poker vs. other Scrum estimation methods

Scrum Poker isn't the only way Scrum teams size work. Common alternatives:

• T-shirt sizing - size labels (XS-XL) instead of numbers, faster but lower-resolution. See Planning Poker vs. T-Shirt Sizing.
• Affinity estimation - the whole backlog is physically or virtually grouped into size clusters at once, without a round-by-round vote. Faster for triaging a large backlog, but skips the per-story discussion that Scrum Poker is built around.
• Single-person estimation - a tech lead sizes the backlog alone. Fast, but loses the cross-check that catches missed edge cases before the sprint starts - the same problem Scrum Poker was created to solve, as covered in Story Points Explained.

Most Scrum teams stick with Scrum Poker because the disagreement it surfaces - not just the number it produces - is what catches missing requirements before the sprint starts.

Running Scrum Poker with a remote team

Distributed Scrum teams run Scrum Poker online instead of with a physical card deck, using a free Planning Poker tool like Fibopoker to replace the deck with a shared session link: Developers join without an account, vote privately, and the Product Owner sees the reveal happen for everyone at once, same as an in-person refinement session.