Archived Bucket Sizing session

Introduction

Bucket Sizing session type by Agile Poker for Jira Cloud is a widely used feature. It is based on the Swimlane Sizing card game and similar to the Relative Session, but with a fixed number of buckets and their values. 

Bucket Sizing is recommended for seasoned teams with proven estimation patterns and it is the fastest session type in Agile Poker. Here is the general gist of the session: 

1. A moderator starts the Bucket Sizing session and selects issues to be estimated.

2. The moderator defines buckets and their values before the session start. 

3. The moderator invites participants to the session via a sharable link. Alternatively, the moderator shares the screen with participants and interacts on behalf of them. 

4. Participants drag and drop the user story cards on the labeled buckets based on their relative size. 
5. If required, the team can use the Voting option where participants can vote for a place for a specific user story.

6. The last step is to assign estimation values corresponding to each column (usually with the Fibonacci sequence).

7. The moderator saves the assigned values for the issues.

Check the detailed explanation below or see how it works for the similar Relative session here:

Session Configuration

Initial configuration

Onсe launched from the Classic or Next-Gen project menu, the Bucket Sizing session must be configured by providing session's name or using default generated one, adding issues you want to estimate (session scope) and clicking on "Create". JQL filtering and bulk selection will come in handy:

Buckets configuration tab is used to pre-set the columns. You can select one of the suggested sets or create a custom one by editing the cards field:

• Please note that values or values+labels can be used. To add labels simply use "LABEL=VALUE" format, for example "Large=5".
• Please note that there is only one Bucket Sizing session for each board, so if you need to launch the second one for the same project, the only option to do this is to use another board.

Session scope can also be re-configured from the main Bucket Sizing session window using add, create and remove from the session (appears during card dragging process) options: 

Inviting participants

Once the session starts, you can share the session link with your team by copying it from the address bar, the bread crumbs section, or from participants management; click on Participants from the top right to open it:

The participant management menu can also be used for removing inactive team members from the session. Inactive participants have a grey indicator next to their avatars while active - green one:

Moderator role

In the Participant menu, the moderator role can be assigned. It gives the moderator several privileges comparing to a regular participant: 

• start and manage the voting process;
• submit the final votes;
• save estimates;
• the moderator has a crown next to his pointer and avatar.

If there is no moderator assigned (default state), all participants have equal access to all the features. Please note that the moderator's role doesn't have an exclusive power to manage participants; every participant has full access to participants and moderator management settings. 

Estimation session

Issue placement phase

While in the session page, drag the issues from the deck (left side of the screen) to one of the buckets on the virtual board (right side of the screen): 

Continue dragging cards from the deck to the board till no more user stories left. 

Voting option

The Voting option has been added to the latest multiplayer version of the Bucket Sizing session. The moderator can activate the voting option and ask participants to vote for a place for a specific user story. 

Click on the person raising a hand icon from the top of the "To be estimated" part to enable voting:

Drag and drop a user story to the voting area:

Then vote for a column for this user story by clicking on a special character in a bucket:

The winning bucket for the discussed user story will be highlighted with the green frame: 

Voting status is displayed both in buckets and on Participants' avatars:

If needed, voting progress can be reset and repeated if the team wants to come to a consensus:

To finish voting simply drag the voted story to the winning bucket.

Depending on a team and a flow, different session scenarios are possible, like voting for an issue or for the whole session scope. 

Support help or feedback

"Problem or suggestions?" button from the bottom menu is always available for you, don't hesitate to contact our awesome support!

Saving estimates

• When happy with what you see, you can click on the 'Save estimates' button (bottom right) to conclude the session and update the issues' respective estimation field. 

  NOTE: all the estimations are saved to an estimation field specified in Board Settings.

• Then click on 'Save' to confirm the action:

• That’s it! Now you can go to the board, or get back to the estimation session:

In case of using the 'Finish session' button, the session will be discharged for all the participants without saving the progress. 

Limitations and caveats