Asynchronous session (DC)
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Based on Wideband Delphi, the Asynchronous session is a specially designed tool for teams that either cannot or prefer not to estimate simultaneously.
By utilizing the Asynchronous session, teams can overcome the challenges of real-time coordination and enable team members to contribute their estimations and insights asynchronously. This approach fosters a more inclusive and flexible estimation process by accommodating diverse schedules and results in consultation-based estimations.
Mechanics of the Asynchronous session
Within the Asynchronous session, there are two different roles available:
Moderator: Moderators configure the session, finish the round, review partial results while the session is open, and save final estimates. You can assign multiple moderators (including groups).
Estimator: Estimators can participate in estimation sessions, cast their votes, and contribute to the decision-making process.
Here's a brief step-by-step overview of how the Asynchronous session unfolds:
The moderator selects the issues to estimate and the people that will participate in the session.
The session link is shared with all the participants via Slack or email.
Participants estimate issues in the scope of the estimation session whenever they find it convenient, optionally putting down their comments, questions, and concerns to support the chosen estimation.
When everyone has submitted their estimates (or the moderator decides to stop waiting), the moderator finishes the round (Finish round in the session, or Close on the All sessions dashboard). Participants can no longer add or change personal estimates.
After the session is closed, all participants can review results. The moderator enters the final estimate for each issue and saves it to the estimation field chosen when the session was created. If another estimation round is needed, the moderator can Restart session and select issues and participants again.
To gain a better understanding of Asynchronous session, you can watch the video below:
How to create an Asynchronous session
Step 1: Open the Create Session screen
Step 2: Create Asynchronous session
Select the issues you want to estimate (the session scope) and click Next.
Name your session (up to 100 characters) or go with a pre-set one.
Use the Save this configuration as my personal default option to prepopulate future sessions you will create for this board with configuration from the current session.
Select the issue field that will be used to save the final estimate.
Pick the people that estimate with you.
Choose one or more Moderators (users or groups). Only moderators can finish the round, configure the session, and save final estimates. Note: Asynchronous sessions do not use Public/Private session visibility (unlike Interactive or Scoped sessions). Who can participate is defined by the participants list; who can manage the session is defined by Moderators.
Select what suggested estimate you will see once all votes are done. Define what suggestions you would like to see after the personal estimation phase is finished.
Consensus: the value is suggested only if all the estimators selected the same value.
Median and Average: the value is calculated using median or average formulas.
Decide whether you want to send emails to the participants. You can customize the email body as needed.
Select one of the commonly used sets of deck types/estimation values, or create a custom set your team prefers. These values will be available to the participants.
While the estimation field must be in a numeric or time format, you can display strings for voting values. Simply use the format of "string equals number," for example, "Small=1".
Starting from version 100.4.2, time values are also supported. You can use values like "1w" for 1 week, "1d" for 1 day, "1h" for 1 hour, "1m" for 1 minute, or their combinations like "1w 2d 3h 4m".
Select the fields you'd like to be available during the estimation session to help your team estimate.
Click the Create button to start your session.
How to join the Asynchronous session
On the All sessions dashboard screen, click the Estimate button to go to the session.
Alternatively, select your session from the Agile Poker dropdown from the Jira backlog view:
Who should use Asynchronous session?
It is indispensable for teams working across different geographical locations and time zones with varying schedules or limited availability. It allows team members to contribute their estimations at their own convenience, eliminating the need for real-time coordination.
Estimation process
In the Asynchronous session, each participant is required to individually estimate all the provided issues and may choose to include comments supporting their estimates.
1. Start the estimation
After the session has started, the participants provide their estimations at their own convenience.
Select the first issue from the list on the left, provide an estimate, and (optionally) type a comment.
Then click the Save & next button to repeat this process for all other issues.
Other actions per issue
Action | When it appears | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Save | Always | Saves your estimate and comment for the current issue. Enabled only when your draft differs from what is already saved (vote or comment changed). |
Save & next | When there is a next issue | Saves and moves to the next issue. |
Skip | When you have not saved a vote on this issue yet | Clears your estimate (records no vote), keeps any comment in the draft, saves that state, and moves to the next issue. Does not count toward your "finished estimating" progress. |
Next | When you already saved a vote on this issue | Moves to the next issue without saving again. |
Clear | Cards layout only | Clears your draft vote on the current issue (does not save until you click Save or Save & next). |
If you change an issue without saving, the app asks: "Switch an issue without saving your estimate and comment?" This applies when switching via the sidebar, j / k, or Next.
Cards vs dropdown layout
Use the layout toggle on the estimate panel:
Cards: one-click vote chips (default for most users).
Dropdown: select from a list; triangulation and reference issues are available only in this layout.
The ? chip (or No idea in the dropdown) is available in both layouts.
Keyboard shortcuts
Cards layout only (dropdown has no vote-row shortcuts):
Key | Action |
|---|---|
j | Next issue |
k | Previous issue |
← / → | Move keyboard focus between vote chips (does not change your draft until you click a chip) |
Tab | Move focus forward: from a vote chip to the comment field; from the comment field to the action buttons |
Shift+Tab | Move focus backward: from the comment field back to the vote chip you last used (click or arrow position); from the action buttons back toward the comment and vote chips |
Enter or double-click (on a vote chip) | Save & next (saves your draft, not merely the focused chip if they differ) |
j / k do not work while focus is in a text area or text input (e.g. while typing a comment).
Using the estimation layout toggle you can switch between Cards and Dropdown layouts. Note that the Dropdown layout supports Triangulation and Reference issues to help with the estimation process.
Once you estimate all the issues, you can simply leave the session page.
After all participants submit their estimates, the moderator finishes the round to close personal estimation. Everyone can then review results; the moderator saves final estimates on the Estimation results screen. To run another round, use Restart session from the session menu or the All sessions dashboard.
2. Preview the estimation results
Every session participant can see the overview of how many issues other participants have estimated in the top-right corner of the session screen. Hold the pointer over the user avatar, showing the number of issues estimated by them.
The green tick will show up next to the users who estimated all the issues in the estimation session.
The session moderator can preview partial estimates even if the session is open. To do this, go to the All Sessions dashboard, open the More dropdown for the estimation session you are interested in, and click Review partial results. On the loaded screen, pick an issue to see the partial results in the Estimation results section.
3. Close the session
Once everybody provides their estimates, the moderator can close the session. Participants can no longer estimate issues in closed sessions but they can review the results instead. The session moderator can close the session in two ways:
From the All sessions dashboard view using the Close button:
From the estimation view using the Finish round button in the top-right corner of the screen:
4. Review estimation results
When the session has been closed, all participants can review the results. Moreover, the session moderator can save the final issue estimate directly from the results screen. To see the estimation results:
On the All sessions dashboard, click the Review results button.
Pick an issue from the list on the left. You will see the Final estimate for... panel.
Based on the user estimates and comments, enter the final issue estimate and click Save & next button. The final estimate value will be saved into the issue field selected during the session creation process (in this example: Story point field).
Once you save the final estimate for all issues, simply leave the session results page.
5. Restart a session
While assessing the outcomes, the session moderator might determine that additional estimation rounds are necessary for certain issues. If this occurs, click the ellipsis icon and select Restart session.
The Restart session dialog is very similar to the Create session dialog. Choose issues to be re-estimated and update the list of session participants if needed. Once you restart the session, Jira can send email invitations to all participants and estimation will proceed as usual.
Multiple estimation rounds
If the session has more than one round (for example after Restart session), the issue list shows Filters:
Current round: issues in the active round only.
All rounds: current and previous rounds (deduplicated).
Issues from earlier rounds show a previous round lozenge. Issues you have estimated show an estimated lozenge. A comment icon appears in the list when you saved a comment on an issue.
Estimation history for the selected issue (previous rounds, proposed estimates, and comments) appears below the estimate panel when you select an issue on the Estimate or Estimation results screen.
6. Review the estimation results later
After the session has been closed, you can view proposed estimates and estimation comments at any time by going back to the session screen or simply from the Agile board and viewing an issue.