A planning poker session on a whiteboard
Run planning poker sessions with Aha! Whiteboards
Product teams often need a way to estimate effort and complexity, but let's be real — estimation is rarely perfect. Planning poker sessions are a popular way to align on estimates, but they can feel inefficient or imprecise if not done well. The key is keeping them structured enough to be useful, but flexible enough to fit how your agile team actually works. This is why we are introducing a new way to run planning poker sessions right from a whiteboard.
Run planning poker sessions on whiteboards in Aha! software to make estimation faster, more collaborative, and highly engaging.
If your team uses planning poker, you know how it works: A product manager presents a feature or user story, and everyone picks a value that represents their estimate. Then, all estimates are revealed at once and discussed. This approach helps surface discrepancies, encourages different perspectives, and ideally, leads to a more accurate sense of effort.
Now, customers with Aha! Whiteboards Advanced can facilitate planning poker sessions right on a whiteboard. You can customize your session to match your team's style — choose from Fibonacci numbers, t-shirt sizes, or custom values, and estimate directly on any whiteboard object. Plus, easily refer back to the results after the session.
Wondering what this looks like in action? Contact us to see a demo and upgrade. Or take a closer look below:
Choose your estimate
Let's play planning poker. In the example below, we estimate features from the product backlog using the Fibonacci sequence. Our facilitator selects the first item to evaluate. Everyone submits their estimates. And once all selections are in, the facilitator reveals the results.
Use any whiteboard object for planning poker, including record cards, Aha! shapes, and sticky notes.
Align on required effort
The team reviews the estimates and discusses any discrepancies. This helps surface different perspectives and clarifies unknowns before everyone settles on an initial estimate. Once the session is complete, the product manager can add the agreed-upon estimates to the relevant records — directly from the whiteboard. They can then collaborate with engineering to refine the details based on technical considerations.
Team members can update their estimates on the whiteboard if further discussion leads to a new perspective.
Run planning poker sessions alongside your roadmap planning. This helps you add estimates directly to work records without extra steps.
Good estimates lead to better decisions. They help teams set realistic plans, balance workloads, and stay on track. If you have not tried planning poker, now is a great time! Run a session in Aha! software and see if it helps your team plan with more confidence.
Upgrade to the Aha! Whiteboards Advanced plan
Aha! Whiteboards is the visual space for product innovation. Choose the Aha! Whiteboards Advanced plan if you need the most sophisticated capabilities — such as wireframing, confidence voting during PI planning, and whiteboard integration with Jira and Azure DevOps. Start a free trial of Aha! Whiteboards to access all the advanced features. Or contact us if you would like to add it to your Aha! Roadmaps, Aha! Ideas, or Aha! Knowledge plan.
