Planning Poker for Jira

2.1 Installation

1. Install Planning Poker for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace.
2. Grant the requested permissions when prompted. The app is built on Atlassian Forge and runs entirely on Atlassian infrastructure.
3. Open Apps → Planning Poker from the Jira navigation. No further configuration is needed.

2.2 Entry points

Global page

The full app — create sessions, join lobbies, browse history. Found under Apps in the Jira sidebar.

Project page

The same app scoped to the project you are in, available from the project sidebar.

Issue panel

A compact Planning Poker Estimate panel on individual issues, with one-click quick estimation. See section 9.

2.3 Requirements

• Jira Cloud — the app is a Forge app and supports Jira Cloud only.
• A Scrum board with a sprint — sessions are published from a sprint, so the selected project needs a board with at least one active or future sprint. You can still add extra issues to a session by key, search, or JQL.

3.1 The three tabs

Open Games

Lobbies waiting for players, with a live count of who is in and who is ready. Your own lobby is marked YOUR LOBBY.

New Session

Where sessions are built: project, sprint, deck, options, and the issue list.

History

Completed sessions with their results. Past sessions can be cloned into new ones or reopened.

3.2 Open Games

Every published lobby appears here for the whole team. A card shows the sprint name, the project key, how many people are waiting, and how many are ready. Click a card to enter the lobby. Hosts can delete their own lobby from the same card.

3.3 History

The History tab lists finished sessions with their estimates. From here you can clone a past session into a new one (same issues, fresh votes) or reopen a session that was ended early. A project-scoped and an all-projects view are available.

4.1 Project and sprint

Pick a project, then a sprint from that project's Scrum board. Active and future sprints are listed, and the sprint's date range is shown next to the picker. Selecting a sprint loads its issues into the session automatically.

4.2 Choosing a deck

The Scale selector sets the deck for the whole session. Five decks are available — Fibonacci, T-Shirt sizes, Powers of 2, Hours, and Custom (your own comma-separated values). Every deck also includes ? (“I have no idea”) and ☕(“I need a break”) cards. See section 12 for the full reference.

4.3 Selecting issues

Issues can come from three sources, in any combination:

• The sprint — loaded automatically, with type filter chips (All / Story / Task / Bug) and Select All / Deselect All controls.
• Search — add individual issues by key or text search.
• JQL — paste any JQL query and add its results in one click.

Each row shows the issue key, summary, and status. Untick an issue to leave it out without removing it from the list.

4.4 Session options

Auto-reveal

Votes are revealed automatically the moment every participant has voted. On by default; turn it off to control the reveal manually.

Discuss

Adds a discussion phase per issue, so the team can talk before voting opens.

Auto-next

Advances to the next issue automatically after a reveal.

Issue context (Desc / Comments / Subtasks / Links)

Choose what issue detail voters see during the session. All four are on by default and can be expanded per issue with Show details.

4.5 Save Game vs. Publish & Open Lobby

Save Game

Stores the configured session under Saved Games without opening it. Publish it later in one click — useful for preparing tomorrow's refinement today.

Publish & Open Lobby

Publishes the session to Open Games for the whole team and takes you straight into its lobby as host.

5.1 Joining a game

Teammates open the app, find the lobby under Open Games, and click it to join. The lobby shows the deck, the issue count (expandable to the full list), and everyone who has joined under Team, with the host marked by an orange badge.

5.2 Ready check

Each participant clicks I'm Ready when they are set. The lobby tracks readiness (2 / 5 ready) so the host starts only when the room is actually there.

5.3 Starting the session

• Start Session — enabled once everyone is ready.
• Force Start — the host can start without waiting for every ready check.
• Leave Lobby / Delete Lobby — leave as a participant, or tear the lobby down as host.

6.1 Casting a vote

The board shows one issue at a time — key, type, priority, summary, reporter, and expandable details — with the deck below it. Click a card to vote; your selection highlights in blue. Other participants see that you have voted, never what you voted, until the reveal. You can change your card freely until then.

A progress bar tracks the session (Issue 3 of 10), and every participant appears as a card with their avatar and vote status.

6.2 Revealing votes

With Auto-reveal on, the reveal happens the instant the last vote lands. With it off, a Reveal Votes button appears for the host (and moderators) once at least one vote is in. After the reveal the board switches to Voting Complete: every participant's card is face-up and the statistics panel appears.

6.3 Moving between issues

• Next Issue — advance in order.
• Skip — leave the current issue unestimated and move on.
• Jump to — the numbered strip at the bottom jumps to any issue in the session.
• End Session — closes the session for everyone; results land in History.

7.1 Average, distribution, spread

After each reveal the statistics panel shows the average of the numeric votes, the full distribution (how many voted each value), and — when votes land far apart — a spread figure highlighted in warning orange. A wide spread is the app's cue that the team read the ticket differently and it is worth a conversation before settling the number.

7.2 Consensus and Accept & Next

When every voter picks the same card, a green Consensus! banner appears with an Accept & Next button. One click saves the agreed value to the Jira issue (see section 8) and moves the session to the next item.

7.3 Re-voting

Re-vote clears the current issue's votes and deals a fresh round — the usual move after discussing a wide spread. There is no limit on rounds.

9.1 Adding the panel

On any issue, open the Apps actions next to the add button under the issue title and choose Planning Poker Estimate. The panel attaches to the issue view and shows the current estimate, the deck it came from, the date, and — while a session is running anywhere on the site — an Active session in progress indicator.

9.2 Quick estimate

Not everything deserves a full session. On an unestimated issue the panel shows Not estimated and an Estimate button: pick a deck, click a card, done — the value saves and writes to the matching Jira field exactly like a session result. Re-estimate runs the same flow on an issue that already has a number.

9.3 Estimate history

When an issue has been estimated more than once, the panel offers Show history — every past value with its deck and date, newest first, so you can see how the team's understanding of the work changed over time.

11.1 Host

The host is whoever published the session, marked with an orange badge. The host controls the lobby (start, force start, delete), the reveal, re-votes, accepting consensus, navigation, and ending the session.

11.2 Moderators

Session moderation can be restricted to the host or opened to everyone, in which case any participant can reveal, re-vote, and advance issues. Participants are managed from the Manage Participants panel on the board.

11.3 Spectators

Spectators watch the session without voting — useful for stakeholders sitting in. Spectator votes are never counted toward auto-reveal or consensus.