Table of contents:

Introduction

Interactive sessions are perfect for teams that work in the same time zone. In this mode session participants simultaneously estimate issues one by one in the context of Jira Software board.

Creating a session

1. On the Jira Software backlog view, open the "Agile Poker" dropdown and click "+ New session".
   
   
   
   Alternatively, select "Estimates" in the board navigation menu on the left and click on "+ Create session"
   
   
   
   
2. In the "Create new session" popup choose "Interactive session" and click "Next".
   
   
   
   
   

3. Enter session details (see reference below) and click "Create" to create the session.
   
   

   Saving session configuration

   Use "Save this configuration as my personal default" option to prepopulate future sessions you will create for this board with configuration from the current session. 

   

   
   
   

4. You can select Advanced settings on the toggle switch located at the top right-hand corner and have more options, such as moderator, visibility, suggested estimate, allow custom values, and timer values. 
   
   
   
   
5. After clicking "Create" the session will be created and activated.
   
   
   
   
   Your new session will be added to the list of available sessions on the All Sessions dashboard view.
   You can go to that dashboard by clicking on "Estimates" in the board navigation menu on the left.
   
   
   
   

Joining/leaving an estimation session

The best place to start working with an Interactive session is the "Agile Poker" dropdown on the Jira Software backlog view.
To join the session open the dropdown and click on your session name.


 

Once you connect to the session, the backlog view changes slightly - you will see an Agile Poker estimation panel (learn more about the estimation panel in this section).

To disconnect from the session (to hide the estimation panel) simply click the X button on the top-right corner of the panel to close it, or select "Hide estimation panel" from the Agile Poker dropdown menu.

 

Disconnecting from the session marks you as an inactive user but doesn't remove you from the session completely.
Edit the session configuration to remove people from it.

The Agile Poker estimation panel

After you select an issue for estimating, the estimation panel should look like the one below:

The panel has two different states:

• estimation view is shown when people are estimating the currently selected issue,
• results view is shown when estimation is over and the results are revealed.
  
  

On the estimation view you will find the following elements:

• summary of the issue you are estimating (every session participant sees the same issue here),
• participants section with avatars, that provides the information about participant type (Estimator or Observer) and whether estimators have already set their estimates,
• icon to switch between Dropdown/Cards estimation layout.
• toggle to switch between Estimator/Observer,
• "Your estimation" dropdown or cards layout that allows you, as a participant, to estimate,
• timer controls (10s, 60s) that facilitate timeboxing of the estimation session,
• button "Show estimates" instantly revealing estimates provided by the users.
  
  

The results view  contains the following elements:

• summary of the issue being estimated,
• avatars of session participants sorted by a given estimate value,
• toggle to switch between Estimator/Observer,
• consensus estimate/median/average of given estimates,
• "Final estimate" input field allowing a moderator to save the final estimate for the discussed issue,
• timer controls (10s, 60s),
• "Restart" button allowing to estimate again (current estimation results for the selected issue will be deleted).

Active issue

In the interactive session, Agile Poker automatically follows the selected issue by opening it for all participants. This functionality is called "auto-follow mode".
To select an issue for estimation, simply click the estimate badge once or double-click the issue row.

The estimation badge of the active issue is always dark blue. There is also the Agile Poker logo on its left side which changes its color based on the auto-follow status. The logo is also dark blue when the auto-follow is enabled for the current user (as you can see on the screenshot above).
However, the user may decide to view another issue during the estimation session. In this situation, the auto-follow will get disabled.

The blue badge still indicates the selected issue (as well as the Agile Poker panel at the top) but the Agile Poker logo is grayed out indicating that the auto-follow is disabled. To re-enable it, simply select the issue with the logo. From now on your browser will automatically load issues selected for estimation.

Submitting your estimates

Personal estimates may be submitted by Estimators only, Observers will see the following message instead of "Your estimate": "You're currently an observer, click here to join estimation"

For Estimators, the personal estimates can be provided using the "Your estimate" section that supports dropdown and card layout. Switch between layouts by clicking on the icon:

Once the last session estimator puts their estimate, all the estimations are automatically revealed.

To get more accurate estimates, your team can compare the size of the currently estimated issue with a few completed issues of known size. Agile Poker supports this approach by displaying these issues in a Triangulation Panel (see below).

Triangulation Panel

Together with Agile Rebels, we've designed the feature that allows you to leverage human's ability to compare things relatively. Here's their great blog post explaining the triangulation idea: Making Tools Great Again: Planning Poker. 

Once you open the Your estimate dropdown you will see three reference issues. These issues are set by the session moderator and are visible to everyone in the estimation session. Below them, you will find recently completed issues with estimation equal to the currently hovered value. Comparing these issues against the estimated one allows you to narrow down the suitable estimate values.
 

You can hide the triangulation panel with reference and completed issues by clicking on the "<<" icon on the right side of the panel. Your preference will be remembered across all Agile Poker sessions. You can always restore the panel later by clicking the ">>" symbol in the same place.

NOTE: the triangulation panel is available for the dropdown estimation layout only. 

See how it works here:

Collapsed estimation panel

If you are familiar with all features of the estimation panel you may prefer to collapse it into a single line. Thanks to that you can see more issues in the backlog.
To collapse the estimation panel click on the "down-arrow" icon.


 

Mobile view

Mobile view allows users to provide estimates for the issue selected for estimating. This view is by design much simpler than the desktop view and the moderator must use the desktop view to control session flow. To join the estimation session using a mobile device go to your board, open the "Agile Poker" dropdown and select "Mobile view".

Participants can bookmark this URL to join this session in the future.

Session settings reference

You can configure your session settings not only during its creation but also later by using several entry points:

You can click on the "cog" icon next to your session name on the Agile Poker dropdown at the Backlog view

 

Or use the Configure option by clicking on the "..." (ellipsis) button on the All sessions dashboard: 

Or from inside the session by clicking on the Configure option below active session on the Agile Poker dropdown menu:

In any one of those entry points, you will be able to get to these Configuration options:

The session configuration settings are described below:

Visibility

Public sessions are visible to all Jira users with access to the Jira Software board. Everybody can join the session and estimate issues at any time. 
Private sessions are visible only to the users added as "participants" in the session configuration.

Moderator

If Moderator is selected then she/he is the only user that can manipulate session state (pick up issue for estimation, finish/restart estimation, etc.). In case if there is no session Moderator then everybody can manipulate the session state (everybody acts as a Moderator).

Additionally, in private mode, the moderator is the only user who can change session settings (i.e. add/remove participants, change session mode, and change the moderator). In the public mode, everyone with access to the Jira Software board is allowed to change session settings.

Participants

People participating in the estimation session may be Estimators or Observers. Their avatars and estimates will appear in the estimation panel during the session. 
Estimators participate in personal estimations while Observers do not. Observers' avatars are marked with an eye icon. 
A moderator might be either Estimator or Observer. 

Suggested estimates

Define what suggestions you would like to see after the personal estimation phase is finished. 
Consensus: the value is suggested only if all the estimators selected the same value. 
Median and Average: the value is calculated using median or average formulas. 

Board settings

Select Board settings from the left-hand side list to configure estimation values available on the board.
You can select pre-set estimation values from Standard Fibonacci, Modified Fibonacci, T-Shirt Size, SML, or create any custom deck. 
You can also replace estimation values on the board with labels by typing in "LABEL=VALUE" like on the example below:

Read the Board settings documentation page for details.