Estimate cards and run an estimation session

Give a card an estimate, or let the team vote on cards privately, agree and save the result to them.

In short

An estimate says how big the team thinks a card is: 5, M or 8 h. It is not the priority. Set one on a card yourself, or run an estimation session. In it everyone votes privately, the votes show at once, the team agrees, and the result is saved to the card.

Before you start

Who: setting an estimate, starting a session and voting need "Change cards". Choosing the estimate scale needs "Create and manage boards". A Viewer watches and reads.
Plan: every plan, and sessions have no limit. "Suggest questions" uses your AI allowance or your own key.
First: choose a scale under Board settings › "Sizing" if you want something other than the current one, and pick the cards to estimate (up to 50 in a session).

Steps

Open a card.
In the card's Details, find "Estimate" and pick a value from the board's estimate scale. The card says "Not estimated" until you do. "Clear" removes it.
Not sure? Press "Suggest from similar cards" under the values. Boards reads the finished cards of this board that read like this one and were estimated, and offers the value nearest the middle of theirs - "5, from 3 similar finished cards", with those cards listed. "Use 5" sets it; nothing is set until you press it. With fewer than two such cards it says so instead of guessing. No AI is used.
The card face then shows Estimate: 5, and the card's History says who set it.

Open the board's … menu, then "Board settings", then "Sizing" ("How do you size and track work?").
Under "Estimate scale", choose a scale and press "Save scale". Only people who manage the board change it.

Start a session

Open the board's ... menu, choose "Insights" and press "Estimate cards" at its foot - or press it beside "Sessions" in Board settings › "Sizing". To start from chosen cards, tick them in the List layout and choose "Estimate selected".
Give the session a "Name". Under "Cards to estimate", tick the cards; "Pick the suggested" ticks cards without an estimate. A session takes up to 50 cards.
Choose the "Estimate scale". Turn on "Anonymous votes", and the switches that allow the votes ? and Pass, if you want them.
Under "People", add whoever should take part (up to 30).
Press "Start session". "Copy link" on the session screen sends the others to it.

Vote and show the votes

The facilitator picks a card from the Cards list and presses "Start voting".
Each person picks a value under "Your vote". Nobody else can see it, and you can change it until the votes are shown.
When people are ready, the facilitator presses "Show votes". It needs at least one vote.

Votes are secret, not just hidden The server keeps every vote and sends you only your own until the votes are shown. Even the facilitator sees who has voted, not what. After Show votes, everyone who can open the board sees every vote.

Read the spread

When the votes are shown, the screen lists them under "Votes" and sums them up under "Spread". The people who voted furthest apart are marked "Furthest apart" - ask them first: they usually know something the others do not.

In an anonymous session, votes show without names. If the team is not ready to agree, press "Start voting" again for another round; earlier rounds stay under "Earlier rounds".

Agree and save to the card

Write what came up under "Discussion notes" and press "Save notes".
The facilitator chooses the value under "Final estimate" and presses the proposal button, such as "Propose 5" for a final estimate of 5.
Each person presses "Agree". The screen says how many agreed.
When everyone taking part has agreed, the facilitator presses "Save to card". The card gets the estimate and its History names the session.

A new proposal asks everyone again, and so does a new round.
If someone is away, the facilitator can press "Save with a note" and say why under "Why save it now". The note is kept in the session's history.
"Skip" leaves the card with the estimate it had; "Next card" moves on.

Finish a session and find old ones

When every card is done, press "Complete session". Saved estimates stay on their cards. "Cancel session" stops it without saving anything more. The foot of "Insights" opens "Estimation sessions", and Settings › "Sizing" lists the latest under "Sessions" with "See all sessions" - who ran each, how many took part and how many cards were saved. Anyone who can open the board can read a finished session.

Ask for questions (optional)

In the session's side panel, "Suggest questions" asks the AI for Questions to ask and things that are Easy to miss. It reads the card's title, type, description and checklist, and the titles of its child cards and linked cards on the same board. It never suggests a number - the estimate is the team's. It counts against your AI allowance; if it cannot answer, the session works the same without it.

Good to know

People who can change the board's cards set estimates. Viewers see them but cannot change them.
Each value has a weight, a number that lists and Planner cycles add up, so estimates work like story points. A parent card shows "Children add up to" beside its own estimate.
The List layout has an Estimate column you can sort, the Estimate filter offers Any, Estimated and Not estimated, and the Excel and Word report has an Estimate column.
Nothing sets an estimate by itself; a board rule cannot set it.
Changing the scale changes no card, and a session keeps the scale it started with.
"?" and "Pass" are votes in a session, never estimates, so a scale cannot contain them.
Sessions work on every plan and have no limit. While a session is open, the board shows a banner with "Join". If a person leaves the organization, they are taken out of its open sessions.
Defaults: a board starts on Fibonacci, and a session starts with the board's scale. "Anonymous votes" and the votes ? and Pass are switches you turn on. A card says "Not estimated" until someone sets an estimate.
What happens next: "Save to card" writes the estimate to the card, and its History names the session. While a session is open, the board shows a banner with "Join".

If something goes wrong

/help/boards/work-item-detail
/help/planner/cycles-in-points
/help/boards/when-will-it-be-done