Pointing Poker

Pointing Poker is a free Forge app for Jira Cloud. It brings collaborative story pointing into the tools your team already uses — no separate planning-poker site or meeting link required. Open the Pointing Poker panel on an issue for single-ticket estimation, or start a Pointing Poker Session from Apps for multi-ticket refinement. Everyone sees who has voted in real time; individual votes stay hidden until the facilitator reveals them. When the team agrees on a number, the facilitator can write the estimate directly to the issue's story point field.

Pointing Poker runs on Atlassian Forge inside Jira Cloud. You need a Jira Cloud site where your team estimates work with story points (or a compatible numeric field). Follow these steps after installing from the Marketplace. Screenshots can be clicked to view full size; press Close, click outside the image, or press Escape to return.

1. Open the Pointing Poker listing on the Atlassian Marketplace and click Get it now.

   

2. Choose the Jira Cloud site where you want Pointing Poker, then click Review. On the Review screen, Atlassian shows permission scopes for the app — click Install to finish. A Jira administrator may need to approve the app for your organization.

   

3. Recommended for admins: open your project's settings and configure the default pointing deck under Pointing Poker Deck Config. Choose a preset (Fibonacci, Modified Fibonacci, Powers of two, or T-shirt sizes) or enter a custom comma-separated deck, then click Save deck. New tables in that project use this deck automatically.

   

4. You are ready to run a session. Pointing Poker appears in two places after install — pick the entry point that matches how your team works (see the next section).

Pointing Poker supports two session types. Both use the same real-time table, roles, and voting flow — the difference is where you open the app and whether the table is linked to a specific issue.

Option A — Estimate a single issue (issue panel)

1. Open any Jira issue your team is estimating (for example PROJ-42).

2. In the issue view, open the Pointing Poker panel from the right-hand sidebar (or the Apps section, depending on your Jira layout).

   

3. If a table is already active for this issue, you are joined automatically. Otherwise, click Create table to start a new session linked to the issue, or Join active table if teammates are already in one.

   

Option B — Team refinement session (global page)

1. In Jira, open the Apps section in the left sidebar and click Pointing Poker Session.

   

2. Click Create table to start a team table. Share the table code (8 characters) with teammates so they can join from any project — they enter the code under Join with table code.

3. Team tables are not tied to a single issue by default. Use them when you are walking through a backlog verbally and estimating several stories in one meeting. To write an estimate back to Jira, open an issue-linked table (Option A) or create a new issue-panel table for the ticket you just agreed on.

Once everyone is at the table, the facilitator runs the round. Here is the typical flow:

1. Join the table. The person who creates the table becomes the facilitator. Others join from the same issue panel, via the table code, or by clicking Join active table. Use Join as observer if you are watching but not voting.
2. Pick your card. Estimators (and the facilitator) click a card from the project deck. Your vote is locked once submitted — you cannot change it until the facilitator starts a new round. Other participants see that you have voted, but not your value, until reveal.
3. Reveal votes. When enough people have voted, the facilitator clicks Reveal votes. Everyone's selections appear at once, along with min, max, average, and mode summaries to speed up discussion.
4. Discuss and align. If estimates diverge, talk through the story and run another round with Reset round or Start new round after reveal.
5. Commit to the issue. On issue-linked tables, the facilitator enters the agreed value and clicks Commit to issue. The app writes to the issue's story point field using your Jira permissions — you must have edit access on the ticket for the write to succeed.
6. Close the table. When the session is done, the facilitator clicks Close table. Anyone can click Leave table to exit without closing it for others.

Each participant has one of three roles for the current table:

• Facilitator — the person who created the table. Can vote, reveal votes, reset rounds, commit estimates to the linked issue, copy the table code, and close the table.
• Estimator — default role for everyone else who joins to vote. Sees the card deck during the voting phase.
• Observer — joins with Join as observer. Watches the participant list and revealed votes but does not pick a card.

The first person to create a table is always the facilitator. If they leave, facilitation does not automatically transfer — create a new table if you need a different facilitator.

Deck settings apply per Jira project on the Pointing Poker Deck Config page (Project settings → Apps, or the project settings entry for Pointing Poker):

• Fibonacci — 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ? (default)
• Modified Fibonacci — 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ?
• Powers of two — 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ?
• T-shirt sizes — XS, S, M, L, XL, ? (mapped to numeric story points when committing: XS=1, S=2, M=3, L=5, XL=8)
• Custom deck — comma-separated values (for example 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ?). Entering a custom deck overrides the selected preset.

Changes apply to new tables created after you save. Tables already in progress keep the deck they started with.

Questions, bugs, or setup help? Email support@perpetualagile.com. You can also reach us through our support page for SLA details and Atlassian Support options.

Pointing Poker runs on Atlassian Forge. Session and vote data are stored in Forge app storage for the duration of the table. For how we handle data, see our Privacy Policy. For security practices, vulnerability reporting, and incident response, see our Partner Security Policy.