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Welcome to pointing poker
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Pointing poker is a online implementation of Planning Poker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_poker). This is a "game" that is used
to determine complexity points for teams using the Agile project management methodology. This tool fosters better collaboration and adherence to the core principles associated with planning poker. It
is intended to be usable without reading through this documentation, but if you want the details, it's all here.
Please note: It is assumed that users of this system are familiar with the agile process. If you are not, then please refer to the numerous resources
on the Internet.
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How does it work?
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The original and continuing goal of this application is to have a simple and focused implementation of planning poker. To that end, the UI has been kept extremely simplistic.
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Starting a session
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A session must be started before pointing can begin. All players from an agile team join the same session, but before
players can join, the session must be started. This is accomplished by one of those players going to the Home page and clicking on the
Start Session button. That's all it takes to get going.
There are a number of options that can be set when starting a new session.
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Settings
The only option here is to reset all of the settings back to their original values.
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General Options
This area allows for the configuration of which items are shown on the screen during a pointing session.
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Point Values
Many agile teams do not use the point values that are available by default. If your team uses different values, then you can customize the available points in this area.
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Joining a session
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Whether you're the one who started the session or a player joining an existing session the first thing you must do is enter your name so other players can see who you are. Once you enter your name
you choose to participate in one of two different ways:
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Player
This option should generally be used by business analysts, testers, developers, etc. Only players are allowed to vote.
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Observer
Observers are only able to see the votes cast by other players and cannot vote themselves. This option should generally be used by the facilitator (Scrum Master) or others who want to view the voting
results, but do not have input into the decision.
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Inviting other users
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Pointing is a team activity so having only one person wouldn't be much fun. To invite other's to your pointing session, simply copy the URL at the bottom of the screen or from your address
bar. Send that to everyone that you want to participate. This can be done via e-mail, IM, SMS, or whatever communication mechanism you prefer. For your convenience, you may enter email addresses
in the input box provided which will send invite emails to everyone listed there. Be assured that this information is not used for any other purpose.
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Participating
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The goal of a planning poker session is to assign complexity points to stories. This tool uses a realtime communication system to connect players to one another. In general, a meeting faciliatator will
introduce the story the team is going to point. The story is described in detail by the business owner who understands the business needs involved. Players then secretly cast their votes for their
estimation of the effort. Although votes are hidden from the players, it is obvious who has or has not voted.
When everyone has voted, the results are shown to everyone on the team. Users can continue to submit votes after all votes have been shown until a consensus is acheived. When the team has finished pointing
a particular story someone should press the Clear Votes button to clear all points and hide them again. If a user becomes unresponsive the Show Votes button can be used to show all of the current votes
without waiting for everyone to cast their votes.
The tool is intended to be very flexible during the pointing session and teams should feel free to use the tool in the manner that best suits the team dynamics. For example, some teams might use it to
get an intial feel for where participants are leaning to start a discussion. Other teams might feel that continuing to submit votes until a consensus is reached is more appropriate. The point is, there
is no right or wrong way to use it.
Note: Different Agile teams define points in different ways. The planning poker application tries to use the most standard point values, but if your team has other point values, you are
encouraged to reconfigure the points to values that are more meaningful to you and your team. This can be accomplished by the person who starts the pointing session.
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Statistics
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The statistics area shows several pieces of information that might help your team improve.
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Time Spent:
This shows the amount of time that was spent determining the current point value or values. The time starts from the moment the Clear Votes button is pressed and ends when the last vote is cast.
The time is also updated after each vote even after all votes have been cast.
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Point Votes:
This shows the number of votes assigned to each point value. If all votes are the same, then "Consensus" is shown instead of the point values.
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Finishing
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When your pointing session is over, you can simply close your web browser or navigate away from the page which will automatically remove you from the session. When all players and observers have left, the
session is automatically destroyed.
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Ready?
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Start a new session now
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Welcome to the retrospective tool
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The online retrospective tool is a place where distributed teams can hold their end of iteration retrospective sessions. This tool is designed to make
these sessions more interactive and easier to manage.
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How does it work?
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Starting a session
The first step in starting and online retrospective meeting is to create