Bucket sizing session

This page is about Agile Poker for Jira Cloud. Using Data Center? Click here.

Overview

The Bucket Sizing session is based on the Swimlane Sizing game and is similar to the Relative session but with predefined columns based on their estimation values. It’s the fastest session type in Agile Poker.

Who should use Bucket Sizing session?

Give Bucket Sizing a try if you have a big team or a lot of items to estimate.
It’s recommended for seasoned teams with proven estimation patterns.

Requirements

The current implementation stores the session state in the browser's local storage. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your browser supports and has enabled local storage functionality.

Mechanics of the Bucket Sizing Session

Here's a brief step-by-step overview of how the Bucket Sizing session unfolds:

Before the session starts, A moderator defines the buckets and their corresponding values.
The moderator invites participants to the session through a shareable link. Alternatively, the moderator shares the screen with participants and interacts on their behalf.
Participants drag and drop the issues into the labeled buckets based on their relative size.
If needed, the team can utilize the Voting option, allowing participants to vote for a specific bucket for a particular issue.
The final step is to assign estimation values to each bucket, typically using the Fibonacci sequence or other predetermined values.
The moderator saves the assigned values for the respective issues and finishes the session.

To gain a better understanding, watch the video below that demonstrates how the similar Relative session works:

On this page:

How to Create a Bucket Sizing Session

To create a Bucket Sizing session, follow a 3-step wizard where you provide details such as name, type (public or private), buckets set, timer options, and more. You can also save configurations as personal defaults.

You can create and run multiple Bucket Sizing sessions in parallel.

Step 1: Open “Create Bucket Sizing Session”

Click here to expand...

For service/software projects, navigate to the project’s left-side menu, and click Agile Poker.
On the Estimations screen, hover over Bucket Sizing, and click Create Session.

Step 2: Create Bucket Sizing Session

Name your session (up to 100 characters) or go with a pre-set one.
Optionally save the current configuration as your personal default, which means it will be used when creating new sessions for the current board. The following fields will be remembered: session type, buckets set, and participants.

Default configurations are saved per user per board, meaning separate default settings for sessions on other boards. Moreover, this feature is shared across all session types. For example, participants list saved during a Bucket Sizing session creation will be pre-populated when creating sessions of any other type.

Select the session type (Public/Private).
Select one of the pre-set buckets from the drop-down list or customize it by editing buckets values;

Note that values or values+labels can be used. To add labels, simply use the "LABEL=VALUE" format. For example, you can use "Large=5" to assign a label of "Large" with a corresponding value of 5.

Click Next and you’ll be directed to the Manage participants page.

Step 3: Manage Participants

Choose a Moderator to give them exclusive control over the estimation session. Otherwise, everyone can control the session.
Pick the people that estimate with you.

Click Next and you’ll be directed to the Select issues page.

Step 4: Select Issues

Select a Jira field that would be the destination for session estimates.
Select the issues that will be estimated during the session. For more details on filtering issues, refer to this documentation.
From the Issue Types dropdown, define if you'd like to estimate Epics or Sub-tasks as well.

Click Start session and the estimation will start. Keep in mind that you can create and run multiple Bucket Sizing sessions in parallel.

How to Join the Bucket Sizing Session

Team members can join an active session from the Agile Poker session selection page or the All Sessions page.
Alternatively, the moderator can share the session link with the team by copying it from the address bar, the breadcrumbs section, or from the participants' management menu (click Participants from the top right to open it).

Are you a participant getting an error message when trying to access a session? That could be because the session you’re trying to access is a private session. Private sessions can only be accessed by Jira users added to the participants list. To resolve this issue, please reach out to the moderator for assistance.

Estimation Process

The estimation process within a Bucket Sizing session follows a structured workflow. During the estimation, the team members drag and drop issues into the labeled buckets based on their relative size. The position of every user story can be voted on by the team if consensus is required. Here's what happens step by step:

1. Entering the Session

Upon entering the session, each new participant is prompted to go through navigation tips. To review the tips again, click the three dots icon at the right-hand side of the screen, and then click Take a tour.

In the Participants panel, which is on the left-hand side of the screen, you can see your team members participating in the estimation. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Moderator: Identified by a crown icon on their avatar.
Inactive Participants: Avatars are greyed out.

2. Starting the Issue Placement Phase

While on the session page, simply drag the issues from the deck located on the left side of the screen and drop them into the desired buckets on the virtual board located on the right side of the screen.

Continue dragging cards from the deck to the board until all user stories have been placed.

3. Optional: Vote!

The moderator has the option to activate voting and ask participants to vote for a "column" for a specific user story. Alternatively, the team can vote for every single story in sequence using Automatic issue pickup for voting. To enable the voting option, the moderator has to expand the Voting panel using the arrow icon. They can then drag and drop a user story into the voting area to start the voting process.

When the Automatic issue pickup for voting option is enabled, the next issue from the session scope list will automatically be placed in the voting area after the final vote for the current issue has been cast. However, when this option is disabled, the moderator will have manual control over which issues to vote for.

Participants can now vote for the selected user story. The personal voting process options are:

Participants can cast their vote by clicking on a like icon or the header of their preferred column.
Participants have the flexibility to change their votes an unlimited number of times before the voting ends.
The voting process is unbiased, as participants cannot see the votes or cursors of other team members.
The voting progress can be monitored through status marks on participants' avatars.
The voting automatically concludes when all participants have voted.
The moderator can manually end the personal voting process by clicking on the Reveal votes button.
During the personal voting phase, the moderator or moderators have the ability to freely move cards around the board.

Once personal votes are revealed, the following options become available:

The winner(s) will be highlighted with blue Accept buttons, while other columns will have standard grey Accept buttons.
The final vote is cast by the moderator, either by clicking on the Accept button inside the appropriate column or by dragging the issue to that column.
The moderator can use the Reset voting option to restart the personal voting process if the team wants to reach a consensus.
During the final voting phase, the moderator(s) have the freedom to move cards around the board and even add or remove columns. However, this may result in a loss of personal votes.

Depending on the team and workflow, different session scenarios are possible, such as voting for individual issues or the entire session scope.

5. Save Estimations

When you are satisfied with the results, you can click the Save estimates button located at the bottom right to conclude the session and update the respective estimation fields of the issues.

All the estimations are saved to the following:

An estimation field specified in Board Settings for Scrum boards of Company-Managed (Classic) projects.
An estimation field selected during session creation or configuration for Kanban boards of Company-Managed (Classic) projects and all board types of Team-Managed (Next-Gen) projects.

Then click Save to confirm the action.

That's it! Now you can either go back to the board or continue with the estimation session. If the Finish session button is used, the session will be terminated for all participants without saving the progress.