Stop gambling on what to do next⌠by playing poker đ¤ˇââď¸
Welcome to âProduct Prioritizationâ â our series of tools, tips, and best practices for the skilled Product Manager to determine priorities and get results. Each month, we will highlight one of the dozens of popular methodologies and explain how to use it.
For our fourth instalment, we take a look at âPlanning Pokerâ also known as âScrum Pokerâ.
At Left Travel, we enjoy using âPlanning Pokerâ when itâs important that the team needs to come to a consensus. This technique is perfect for:
- Aligning different stakeholders
- Extracting siloed information from stakeholders
- Keeping meetings interactive and fun
What is Planning Poker and how does it work?
At a high level, âPlanning Pokerâ is a prioritization technique where multiple stakeholders get together and establish the value of a project, feature, or idea. For the purpose of this blog post, weâll discuss ideas.
The technique is gamified to estimate value. Stakeholders are presented with an idea and each one of them votes on how valuable they think the idea is by using a set range of cards or poker chips with varying values. Votes remain hidden until all members have voted to avoid influence from other members. Once everyone is decided, the votes are revealed at the same time.
After everyone has presented their votes, the stakeholders who voted with the highest and lowest values explain their reasoning. The voting process repeats until the team agrees on a value for the idea.
How to Play
Step 1: Deal Cards or Poker Chips
Each person is given a set of cards or poker chips. The value of the cards or poker chips should be set as 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100. While âPlanning Pokerâ can be played with different values (like a Fibonacci sequence), what matters most is that the higher the bets get, the larger the gap is between the next lowest and next highest values.
Step 2: Rules & Establish Values
The moderator or scrum master explains the rules of the game to the group (explained in the following steps).
Next, the moderator establishes what the number value of each card or chip is worth. Since value is subjective, it is crucial to complete this step before starting the exercise. Take the time to go over a few past ideas that are complete and assign them a value. It is best to pick ideas that vary strongly in value to allow the stakeholders to be able to easily compare low, medium, and high-value past ideas to new ideas. Use the phrasing âX idea is a 40 becauseâŚâ
Step 3: Present the Idea
Next, get the product manager or owner to present the ideas to the group and ensure that there is full clarity on every aspect of each of them. The moderator can also act as the product owner for some or all of the ideas that are being discussed. Allow time for Q&A from the stakeholders.
Tip: Standardize the way the ideas are being presented to avoid a stakeholder over- or under-emphasizing specific ideas based off of their personal opinions. Set timing and structure requirements.
Step 4: Voting
Once everyone has had a chance to ask questions about the idea, it is time to vote. Each stakeholder selects a card or chip and places it face down on each idea. The higher the value of the card or chip the more important it is to the stakeholder. Once everyone has cast their vote, all of the votes are revealed at the same time. It is important to keep the votes secret until everyone is ready in order to make sure that the stakeholders involved arenât influenced by others in the company â no matter what their role is.
Step 5: Discussion
Start the discussion by having the stakeholders that cast the highest and lowest votes explain why they gave the idea that value. Through this discussion new data can be discovered as the high and low-value voting members will often have additional information about the idea that others didnât have prior to voting. For example, a stakeholder might know how an idea may possibly have a massive impact on another feature, or how the idea would be a big waste of time because it doesnât impact any key KPIs.
The moderator will typically only need to call on those who had the highest or lowest value, unless a stakeholder who voted in the middle is very passionate about an idea. At some point in the game, most stakeholders will end up on the high or low end so theyâll get the opportunity to participate. If there is someone who constantly votes in the middle, call on them at some point to make them feel included in the discussions.
Step 6: Assigning Value/Voting Again
Assuming that not everyone assigned the same value to an idea, after hosting a discussion, have the group vote again. Repeat the process until the group comes to a value consensus (they all vote the same). Once agreed upon, assign the decided value to the idea and move on to the next idea.
Tip:Â If the stakeholders arenât coming to a consensus and a revote has been cast, it is helpful to ask the stakeholders that are not aligned if they are comfortable adjusting their vote up (or down) to meet with the group. This usually works.
If it doesnât work, note down what the scores from the group were and the members who wouldnât adjust their vote. This is done not to single them out, but to make a reminder to approach them later so that you can dive deeper into their reasoning.
Step 7: Finishing Up
Once all of the ideas have a documented assigned value, sync up with the team that estimates the size (level of effort) of ideas.
Once the size has been determined, create a ratio of the idea/ feature/ project, to the level of effort. Give bonus points if the team can take the information and get it down to story points, sprints, days, etc. Once completed, there will be a list of prioritized ideas.
Tip: A simple 4-quadrant list with value and level of effort will help identify ideas that stand out.
The Benefits of Physical vs. Software
Last week, the Left Travel team did a âPlanning Pokerâ session to value some of our upcoming data projects. When prepping for it, I looked into the benefits of using physical cards/chips compared to using a software program.
I ended up deciding to use physical cards. I found that many of the paid or free âPlanning Pokerâ software options were either too cumbersome or tied to a roadmapping system. For our team, the effort to go through the onboarding process was too much of a pain. In saying that, if youâll be using the âPoker Planningâ technique often, it might be a good idea to use software.
You can purchase âPoker Planningâ cards on Amazon or Mountain Goat Software.
Other Uses of Poker Planning: Backlog Grooming & Remote Teams
Outside of assigning collective value, the âPlanning Pokerâ technique can be used to groom your backlog and development estimations (sizing). It is recommended to use the Fibonacci sequence instead if youâre doing one of those.
âPlanning Pokerâ also works really well with remote team members. The moderator will have some extra prep to ensure that the stakeholders have the card or chips before you start (software may be a better option for remote teams), but the voting and discussions work well if everyone is on a video call.
Looking for more product management tools and tips? Donât miss our past posts on prioritizing:
About Brent
Brent is a SaaS general manager turned product leader, passionate about how technology can enhance our daily lives. With over 10 years of product experience in the B2B and B2C Software Industry, he has assisted in building innovative software technologies by leading Product, UX, and UI teams. Along the way, Brent has helped product and development teams evolve from scrappy start-ups to thriving corporations, driving several M&A deals along the way. At Left, Brent is responsible for both the strategic direction and tactical execution for Left Travelâs product portfolio with the distributed teams in Canada and Bangladesh.