Run a session: roles, voting and saving estimates

Roles

Participants and observers can switch roles with Participate and Observe in the session, while no vote is open on the selected issue.

Join a session

• On All sessions, choose Join session, or View Finished Session for one that has ended. Search by name, or filter by Status, Access and, in company-managed projects, Board.
• Or open a session’s link. The link icon next to a session copies it. Opening the link of a public session adds you as a participant.
• A private session opens only for the people added to it. If you can’t join, ask the moderator to add you.

Vote on an issue

1. The moderator picks an issueIts details show beside the cards: status, priority, assignee, parent, labels, description, linked issues, comments and sub-tasks. Anyone can open the issue in Jira from its link.
2. The moderator starts the votingUntil the moderator chooses Start estimations, everyone sees Awaiting Moderator to Start Estimation.
3. Everyone votesParticipants pick a card. While voting is open, the session shows Voting in Progress - Finish Voting to Proceed.
4. The votes are revealedWhen everyone in the participant list has voted, the votes are revealed automatically. Otherwise the moderator chooses Finish Voting.
5. Discuss and saveEveryone sees a chart of the votes and, for number cards, the Average Estimation. The moderator picks or types the final value under Final estimation for, then chooses Save, or Save and vote next to move to the next issue. Re-estimate clears the votes for another round.

Moderator tools

• Peek at estimations and Conceal Estimates: see the votes before they are revealed, on your own screen only.
• Timers: start one of the session’s countdown timers. They are for display only.
• Add reference issues: pin up to three past, completed issues for the team to compare against.
• Reorder issues: drag an issue to a new place in the list. The new order is saved to the backlog ranking in Jira too. You can’t move issues while a vote is open.
• Add more issues to estimate: add issues to the running session.
• Edit issue: open the selected issue in Jira’s editor.
• Settings (cog): change the session’s settings, people and issues, then choose Update session.

Finish a session

• When every issue is estimated, the moderator opens the menu (⋮) next to the settings button and chooses Finish Session. After that nobody can join or change it. It stays in the list as Finished, and anyone who can open it can view it with View Finished Session.
• If you leave a session, you show as offline. Automatic reveal waits for everyone in the participant list, so when someone has left, the moderator chooses Finish Voting.
• In the session list, the menu (⋮) on a session has Edit Session (rename it) and Delete Session. Only the person who created the session, or its moderator, can use them.