sinraOverview
A refinement session is where the team splits a capability into issues and estimates them together with planning poker. One person, the facilitator, runs the session. The others are participants and vote with cards.
Open a session from the refinement queue, or create one for a capability. A capability has one open session at a time.
Starting and following a session
A session starts as a draft: the facilitator can add issues, notes and participants, then clicks Start session. The banner at the top of the page always tells you where the session stands, and it follows the session in real time, without reloading:
| You are | The banner says |
|---|---|
| The facilitator | what to do next: open a vote, reveal it, commit an estimate, close the session |
| A participant | who runs the session and which issues are on the agenda, then how many votes are open |
| Not a participant | that you are not part of the session, and who to ask to be added |
A person who is not a participant can read the session but never gets voting cards.
Invitations
When the facilitator adds someone, that person receives an email right away with a direct link to the session, in their own language. The session also appears in the My refinement sessions widget of their developer dashboard, with a Vote open badge when a vote is waiting for them.
Voting
Click Estimate on an issue to open a vote. Each participant picks a card; nobody sees another card until the vote is revealed. When everyone has voted the votes are revealed automatically, and the facilitator can also reveal them early. The facilitator then commits the estimate, pre-filled with the median, or starts the vote again.
Several votes at once
You can open a vote on a second issue while the first is still open. Each issue row shows the state of its own vote (“Vote open · 2/4”, “Revealed”, “Validated: 2 d”) and a Vote or View button. The voting window opens by itself only when a single vote is open; with several, nothing moves under your hands while you vote. Revealing one vote never reveals another.
Issues created on the spot
New issue creates a complete issue without leaving the session: name, description, type and estimate. It is created in the capability of the session and follows that capability’s release.
Estimate history
The issue page shows its Estimate history: the current estimate, then every change with the old value, the new value, who made it and whether it came from a vote or was typed by hand (“2 d validated by vote”, “2 d → 1 d by Camille”).
Reminding people who have not voted
While a vote is open, the facilitator sees Remind N people who have not voted. It sends each of them an email with a link to the session. Nothing is sent to people who already voted.
Ending the session
When every issue of the capability is estimated and no vote is open, the banner tells the facilitator that the session can be closed and Close session becomes the main button. Closing cancels any vote still open.