Planning poker in Jira: three ways to run it

There are three practical ways to run planning poker with Jira. You can install a planning poker app from the Atlassian Marketplace that runs inside Jira; use a web-based planning poker tool that connects to your Jira site and writes estimates back; or copy the issues into any tool you like and type the agreed estimates into Jira yourself. All three work. They differ in who can join, how much admin is involved and how much retyping you’ll do.

If everyone who estimates has a Jira account and your admins are happy to install apps, an app inside Jira is the smoothest route. If contractors, clients or other people without Jira seats vote too, a connected web tool usually fits better. Copying by hand suits occasional sessions and locked-down sites, at the cost of retyping every number. (Atlassian now calls issues “work items”, so you’ll see both terms here.)

The three options at a glance

Option 1: a planning poker app that runs inside Jira

Apps from the Atlassian Marketplace add planning poker to Jira itself. A Jira admin installs the app, and people without admin rights can request it instead. After that, the team starts a session from Jira, votes on work items without leaving it and saves the agreed estimate straight to each item.

Pros

• No second login. People use the Jira account they already have.
• Context on hand. Descriptions, attachments, comments and linked items are right there while people vote.
• Direct write-back. The agreed number goes into the work item without anyone retyping it.
• Familiar access rules. Access follows your Jira site, so there’s no separate list of users to manage.

Cons

• Everyone who votes needs Jira access. A contractor, a client’s product owner or a colleague from another department may not have a seat on your site.
• Licensing follows the whole site. Atlassian prices paid Marketplace apps for Jira on the maximum number of users of Jira apps on your site, not on how many people estimate. On a large site, one team’s app is priced for everyone.
• An admin has to say yes. Installing an app is a decision for your Jira admins, and some organisations review every app first.
• One site at a time. An app lives in one Jira site, which matters if your teams work across several sites or tools.

If guests matter to you, look for an app that gives people outside Jira a way in. SprintPoker for Jira, made by the team behind planningpoker.org, is one example: it runs inside Jira, and with cross-play a Jira site connected to Laya can make a session available both inside Jira and on Laya.net, where people outside Jira can join by link.

Option 2: a web planning poker tool connected to Jira

Here the session runs on a planning poker website that connects to your Jira site. The facilitator picks work items from a board or a filter, the team votes in the browser, and the agreed estimate is written back to Jira when it’s saved.

Pros

• Guests can take part. Because voting happens outside Jira, a web tool can let people without a Jira seat vote through a link. Check how the tool you’re considering handles this.
• Write-back without retyping. Like an app inside Jira, a connected tool saves the agreed number to the work item.
• Works beyond one site. The same tool can serve teams on different Jira sites, or teams that use other trackers.
• No Jira app to install. You avoid a Marketplace install, although your organisation may still want to approve the connection.

Cons

• Another service to approve. The tool reads work item details from Jira, so check what it stores, where and for how long, and whether your security team needs to review it.
• A second account for someone. At least the person who connects Jira needs an account with the tool.
• Write-back depends on permissions. Saving an estimate is an edit, so it only works if the person saving it, or the account the tool uses, can edit the work item.
• Field mapping can go wrong. The tool has to write to the field your board actually uses for estimation, and that differs between company-managed and team-managed spaces.

On planningpoker.org Sign in with a free Laya account, and if your workspace has a Jira connection, you can pick issues from a Jira board. Save & Next can write the agreed estimate back to Jira, by default to the board’s own estimation field.

Option 3: copy the issues into any tool and type the estimates back

The no-integration route: list the work items you want to estimate, run planning poker in whatever tool or deck you like, and enter the agreed numbers in Jira yourself. It needs no admin and no approval, which makes it the easiest place to start.

1. Build the list. Use a saved filter for the items you want to estimate, such as everything in the next sprint without an estimate. Our guide to estimating story points in Jira has filters you can copy.
2. Keep the key in every title. “PAY-231 Retry failed card payments with exponential backoff” is easy to find again; “Retry payments” isn’t.
3. Type as you go. Have one person enter each agreed number in the Jira backlog straight after the decision, with their screen shared so everyone sees it land.
4. Read back at the end. Compare the list of decisions with what’s in Jira before anyone leaves. A 50 typed for a 5 is easy to miss later.

Pros

• Nothing to install or approve. It works on any Jira site, however locked down.
• Any tool, any deck. Use a browser tool, physical cards on a video call or whatever the team prefers.
• Anyone can vote. Nobody needs a Jira account to take part.

Cons

• Double entry. Every estimate is typed twice, and someone has to remember to do it.
• Copies go stale. If the product owner edits an item during the session, the copy doesn’t change with it.
• The reasoning stays behind. Assumptions and decisions made in the session only reach Jira if someone writes them up.

Two shortcuts help. If several items get the same estimate, select them in the Jira backlog and edit the field for all of them at once. And if typing back becomes a weekly chore, that’s a sign a connected option is worth a look.

What to look for, whichever route you choose

Whether you’re comparing apps, web tools or your own routine, these questions separate a smooth set-up from a frustrating one:

• Does it write estimates back to the right field? Company-managed spaces use Story Points, team-managed spaces use Story point estimate, and boards can be set to other numeric fields. The safest tools write to whatever field the board is configured to use.
• Whose permissions does it use? Saving an estimate needs the Edit work items permission. A tool that writes with each person’s own permissions shows who changed what in Jira’s history; one that writes through a shared connection shows that connection’s account instead.
• Can people without Jira seats vote? Think about contractors, client stakeholders, new starters still waiting for access and colleagues from other departments. Jira’s Free plan covers up to 10 users, and on paid plans every extra user is another seat.
• Are votes really hidden? Votes should stay hidden until the reveal, ideally without even being sent to other people’s browsers before then.
• Does it fit your boards? Check it works with both company-managed and team-managed spaces if you have both, and with the boards your teams actually use.
• Can it run async? Distributed teams benefit from async rounds followed by a short live review.
• What will your admins ask? What data the tool reads, where it’s stored and who can see it. Have the answers ready before you ask for approval.

Our checklist for choosing a planning poker tool covers the questions that apply beyond Jira.

Which option suits your team?

Everyone works in Jira, and apps are allowed

A Marketplace app is the natural choice. Nobody needs a new account, the work items are right there and estimates land without retyping. Check the pricing against your whole site’s user count, not just your team.

Guests or several tools are involved

A connected web tool, or an app with a way in for people outside Jira, avoids buying seats for people who only estimate. It also suits organisations where teams use different Jira sites or other trackers.

Jira is locked down, or you estimate rarely

Copy and type back. It costs a few minutes per session and needs nobody’s approval. Make one person responsible for entering the numbers, and read them back before the call ends.

You’re not sure yet

Start with copy and type back for two or three sprints. You’ll learn who really needs to vote, how often you estimate and how much the retyping annoys people, which is exactly what you need to know to choose well.

Getting estimates into Jira cleanly

Whichever route you take, a few checks keep the numbers useful once they land:

• Confirm the board’s estimation setting first. If the board isn’t set to story points, the velocity chart won’t add them up, however carefully you enter them.
• Make sure the field is on every work type you estimate. Bugs and tasks sometimes lack the story point field until an admin adds it.
• Estimate before the sprint starts. Jira’s velocity chart takes its commitment figure when the sprint starts, so later estimates don’t count towards it.
• Record the reasoning. A one-line comment on the work item, such as “8 because refunds need a retry queue”, helps whoever picks it up.
• Run the session well. The integration only saves the number; the conversation produces it. Our guide to running a planning poker session covers the facilitation.