Free online planning pokerfor agile teams
Planning poker helps a team estimate story points and difficulty without letting the first opinion anchor the conversation. Create a public room, share the link, let everyone choose a card privately, then reveal the spread together.
Use Fibonacci cards for story point estimation, T-shirt sizes for fast triage, or a custom deck for your team's own scale. Rooms do not require login and expire automatically after one day.
After the team agrees on estimates, compare the total with the sprint capacity calculator, forecast with the sprint velocity calculator, and inspect the outcome in your next sprint retrospective.
How it works
- Share one link
- Anyone with the room URL can join by entering a display name.
- Vote privately
- Attendees show as ready once they pick, but estimates stay hidden.
- Reveal together
- Reveal the cards, discuss outliers, then reset for the next item.
What is planning poker?
Planning poker is a team estimation method designed to prevent the first estimate from anchoring everyone else. Each participant chooses a card privately, the room reveals all cards together, and the team discusses why the estimates differ before selecting a shared size.
How to run planning poker online
- Enter your name and the backlog item or decision being estimated.
- Choose Fibonacci, T-shirt sizes, or a custom card deck.
- Create the room and share its temporary link with the team.
- Let everyone choose independently while cards remain hidden.
- Reveal together and ask the highest and lowest voters to explain assumptions.
- Clarify the item, vote again when needed, then reset for the next item.
Fibonacci, T-shirt, or custom cards?
Fibonacci cards are useful for story points because the gaps grow as size and uncertainty increase. T-shirt sizes are faster when work only needs rough grouping. A custom deck is appropriate when the team already uses a shared scale—avoid inventing extra precision that the available evidence cannot support.
What the discussion should uncover
A spread is useful evidence, not a voting failure. Different cards can reveal hidden dependencies, quality expectations, operational work, unfamiliar technology, or different interpretations of done. Clarify those assumptions before averaging or forcing agreement.
Frequently asked questions
What is planning poker?
Planning poker is a collaborative estimation method where participants choose cards privately, reveal together, and discuss differences before agreeing on the relative size or difficulty of work.
Why are planning poker cards hidden?
Hidden estimates reduce anchoring. Each participant forms an independent view before seeing the choices made by teammates.
Which planning poker deck should a team use?
Fibonacci cards work well for story points because uncertainty grows with size. T-shirt sizes suit early or fast categorization, and custom cards fit an established team scale.
Is this planning poker tool free?
Yes. HeyRetro planning poker rooms are free to create, require no participant accounts, and expire automatically after one day.
Turn estimates into a focused sprint
Bring the team into one retrospective board to review delivery, agree on improvements, and track the next action.