Planning poker — async edition

The web version of Team O’clock planning poker just got a major revamp, focusing on asynchronous estimation.

The previous version was designed upon synchronous sessions, where all team members joined via video call in order to estimate a single task at a time, emulating cards on a physical office. However, with remote work and distributed teams becoming more of a norm than ever, we tried to put more strength on the asynchronous side of things, hence the new version.

Here is a list of the major changes on the user experience:

• The facilitator role was introduced, a member who is responsible for managing the session.

• The facilitator can add multiple tasks for estimation.

• Team members can enter the session at their own leisure and estimate the open tasks.

• When all members have voted for a task, the estimation is revealed and the task voting is closed. Alternatively, the facilitator can close an estimate manually, in case a member is absent.

• Quick filters control visibility of the task list.

Additionally, clicking on the 3-dot menu, the facilitator can now change the voting technique, without the need to go to the team settings.

Planning poker customization

We hope that the new version will bring more convenience to your teams and you can always give it a go by running a demo planning poker (no account required).