A planning poker game comes to a conclusion when all players turn over the same numbered card – but the relevance of the consensus depends upon the conversation that’s taken place to arrive there and whether all players are satisfied with their understanding. It may be good practice to play the ? card until one is sure one is satisfied with one’s understanding of the user story because playing a number before then could result in a false consensus. This is always a risk with planning poker as often players think they have a clear understanding at the outset and play a card – only to hear a comment or question in the second round that makes them shift their card significantly either up or down (usually up) – this is ok as planning poker is intended to deal with this.

The conclusion of the game is taken to mean that “all estimators agree on the size of the user story and share an equal understanding of it”. That they agree on the size is evident in the cards played but whether they share an equal understanding of the user story could be uncertain. The purpose of the game is to obtain a sizing – not a detailed ‘accurate’ estimate in days or hours – and its intended to produce this quickly. This is why the consensus is often forced in a stalemate situation – suppose 3 players have a 5, and 2 players have an 8 for 2 or more consecutive rounds – this indicates that there is little more that can be discussed at this time - but the team disagrees on the size – prudent to draw a consensus at 8 for now perhaps. However it is possible to draw a consensus of ? – unknown – its rare or possibly never been seen that all players play a ? card but it is fairly common to see a ? played by the same player for 2 or more consecutive rounds to force a stalemate and a ? consensus.

Almost at the opposite end of the spectrum is the ‘one round game’. When the first round produces 5’s from every member in the group this could mean that the story is easy to understand and estimate – but it could also mean that 2 players are making one set of assumptions and the other 4 are making a different set of assumptions – never the less they come up with the same sizing. This difference in assumptions is hidden because planning poker has delayed the conversation. This often isn’t a problem because later when the work is being done the debate over which assumption is correct can be had. However if the assumptions being made are significant or fundamental this can cause problems.

The problems can never be removed from any estimating method and nor should they be – particularly in agile because we don’t want to have to discuss every detail and write it down to be sure before we estimate because after all an estimate is only a guess – its not something that is ever ‘accurate’, rather its something that’s derived from a consistent, structured and well practiced approach as opposed to a ‘finger in the air’. Using the ? card in planning poker can go a long way to getting the balance right and avoiding conclusions that don’t account for major assumptions or questions.

Any player who has a burning question or knows they are making a big assumption – should avoid playing a number card – they should play the ? card to ensure they are given the time to air their question. In the second and subsequent rounds the players with the highest and lowest cards are usually asked to open the conversation – if anyone plays a ? card this should be taken as an indication that they have something important to say and therefore should be given the floor first in that round.

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