Before the session
- Prepare a short list of items that are ready enough to discuss.
- Remove items that combine unrelated outcomes or depend on unanswered business decisions.
- Write down acceptance conditions, known constraints, and dependencies for each item.
- Confirm who should vote and who is joining only to answer questions.
- Choose the estimation deck before the first item so the team is not changing scales mid-conversation.
Opening the room
Start by reminding the group what the numbers mean for your team. Some teams estimate relative effort, others estimate complexity or delivery risk. Mixing those meanings creates noisy results, so make the unit of discussion explicit before anyone votes.
Create the room, share the invite link, and ask participants to join with names the team recognizes. Wait until everyone who should vote appears in the participant list before reading the first item.
For each item
- Read the item and the expected outcome in plain language.
- Ask for clarifying questions before any voting starts.
- Call out known unknowns instead of hiding them inside the estimate.
- Invite participants to vote privately.
- Reveal only after the voters are ready.
- Discuss the highest and lowest estimates first.
- Revote when the discussion changes someone’s assumptions.
- Record the final estimate and any important assumption outside the room.
When votes are close
If votes differ by only one neighboring card, the team may not need a long discussion. Ask whether anyone has a concern that would change the plan. If not, choose the estimate according to your team agreement and move on. The goal is a reliable planning signal, not perfect numerical agreement.
When votes are far apart
A wide spread deserves attention. Ask the low voter what they assumed was already available and ask the high voter what risk or extra work they included. Look for missing acceptance criteria, hidden integration work, uncertain data migration, test coverage, release coordination, or dependencies on another team.
If the discussion reveals separate concerns, split the item. If it reveals missing information, create a short research task. Do not force convergence just to finish the meeting.
After the session
- Move accepted estimates into the backlog system your team normally uses.
- Tag or rewrite items that need splitting or discovery.
- Check whether the meeting produced useful decisions, not just completed votes.
- Adjust the team agreement if the same disagreement pattern appears repeatedly.