Blog Details

Comparing Top-tier Poker Planning Tools

Introduction

         Planning Poker transforms traditional estimation meetings, injecting excitement and efficiency. However, when used with distributed agile teams, challenges arise such as clunky interfaces and limited online functionalities. Specialized tools streamline the process, facilitating team collaboration. The article will explore five top online Planning Poker tools worth considering.

In evaluating Planning Poker tools, how do their features and efficacy vary for Agile teams?

         Each website and tool offers unique features. Below, you'll find a concise table detailing the specific capabilities of different tools, aiding you in making informed decisions about which one(s) to explore with your team.

And here is a table:

Genius Poker Planning:

         What sets Genius Pocker Planning apart is being powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence algorithms, which allow agile team members and poker planning organizers to have on the tips of their hands intelligent estimations with detailed explanation (based on the feature specifics). Furthermore, Genius Pocker Planning preseves all voting history in an efficient manner making them intuitively accessable.

         Smart integrations that allow you to pull stories and issues straight into the tool from Jira and estimate them in Genius Pocker Planning.

         Genius Pocker Planning also mitigates anchoring bias through the implementation of a smart voting system, ensuring that each individual's vote remains confidential until all team members have cast their votes. This approach fosters independent decision-making rather than reliance on a single leader's influence.

1. Pros:

• Artificial intelligence

  Powerful estimation mechanism, relying on ai for accurate results and explanations.

• Voting history

  Allowing the maintainance of the voting history of each user story.

• Multiple estimation scales:

  multiple voting metohds: Number of days, modified fibonacci, fibonacci

• Security:

  Full control over the meeting and the poker planning room, as well as powerfull data storage allowing to remain in control of your own data.

2. Cons:

• Still no custom voting methods:

  Voting methods are limited to the ones mentioned in Multiple estimation scales, but we can enter a custom value with the special card on the right.

3. Pricing:

Genius Pocker Planning has four pricing plans:

• Free: 15 days trial
• Monthly: $15 for unlimited rooms and members
• 6 Months: $75 for unlimited rooms and members ($15 discount)
• Yearly: $120 for unlimited rooms and members ($60 discount)

With all of these plans, only the host will need a paid account. All other participants can join for free without signing up.

FirePoker:

         The name of the game for Firepoker is simple: get a scrum poker meeting going in about one minute.There is no price, no login, and very little in the way of customizations. This is a good choice if you want to run a one-off or no-frills meeting and don't care much about good UX.

1. Pros:

• Multiple estimation cards:

  Comes preloaded with five scoring card sets, including “Scrum,” Fibonacci, Sequential, Hourly, and T-Shirt.

• Easy sharing:

  Simply send the URL of the game to your team members to have them join.

2. Cons:

• Basic design:

  The UI of Firepoker is very basic.

• Time-consuming setup:

  Although running a meeting may be quick. Set up takes a long time. That's because teams must copy/paste stories into and out of the tool to estimate them and then record estimates.

• Not ideal for security-sensitive orgs:

  The lack of security, copying/pasting sensitive data into and out of an online tool with no security credentials may cause some sleepless nights for data security professionals.

2. Pricing:

Firepoker is a free planning poker tool with no paid plan or advanced features.

Parabol:

         Prabol is multipurpose agile platform and not specifically a poker planning solution. It's tooling and features reflects heavily on pricing. This doen't me that there aren't advantages to this more complex platform

1. Pros:

• Open source:

  Open code base that can be inspected

• Communication tools:

  A built-in discussion thread.

2. Cons:

• Pricing plans:

  Each user will have to create an account and billing is per user basis.

2. Pricing:

Parabol has this pricing plans:

• starter: Free for 15 days
• Team: $6 per user per month
• Enterprise: Contact the team for pricing details

Planning Poker:

         Planning Poker does one thing planning poker meetings and does it reasonably well. Planning Poker may not have as many features as other tools on this list, but that doesn't mean there aren't advantages to this simpler platform.

1. Pros:

• Integrations:

  Allows for an integration with Jira so you can import and export stories. (Paid feature)

• Pointing scales:

  Comes with four pointing scales on the free version and allows for custom scoring. (Paid feature)

• Multiple estimation scales:

  multiple voting metohds: Number of days, modified fibonacci, fibonacci

2. Cons:

• Paid features:

  Many of the most useful features of the tool are only available on a paid plan, making it hard to get a lot of value from the free version.

• Distracting ads in the product:

  You probably want your team to be focused during your estimation meeting, not distracted by retargeting ads for something that new bike they were considering buying on the weekend.

2. Pricing:

Planning Poker has four pricing plans:

• Free Basic: Free with up to 5 players (with ads)
• Standard: $14.95 per month with up to 10 players
• Pro: $49.95 per month with up to 50 players
• Enterprise: Contact the support team for pricing details

PlanITPoker:

         PlanITPoker is similar to Firepoker in being free and having a relatively simple user interface. However, PlanITPoker is much easier to use. When you want to estimate, the cards are clear, as is the process.

1. Pros:

• Customizable cards:

  You can set the meeting up with custom-numbered cards. But customization doesn't support emoji if you want to make a doggy scale or a fruit scale.

• Various presets:

  When you sign up, there are various presets you can choose from to customize how you run your meeting.

2. Cons:

• No backlog integrations:

  Users must copy/paste backlog items into and out of the tool, then manually update estimates in their backlog tools.

• Distracting ads in the product:

  While the ads in the product are relatively inconspicuous, they are still distracting.

• Security concerns:

  The lack of security, copying/pasting sensitive data into and out of an online tool with no security credentials, may cause some sleepless nights for data security professionals.

2. Pricing:

PlanITPoker is a free tool supported by advertising. There is currently no paid plan to remove advertising or unlock additional features.

Conclusion

         Poker planning is more than just an estimation tool; it's a catalyst for team engagement and accurate sprint planning. By integrating this technique into your Agile and Scrum practices, you can enhance team collaboration and project success.