Planning Poker for New Team Members
How do you onboard new developers to planning poker? They always underestimate because they don't know the codebase, or they stay silent because they feel unqualified. What's the right approach?
Pair new devs with experienced ones during first 3 sprints. The experienced dev estimates out loud, explaining their reasoning: "This touches auth system which is complex, plus we need DB migration, so 8 not 5."
New dev observes, asks questions, gradually participates. By sprint 4 they estimate independently. Works way better than throwing them in blind.
Give them the reference stories document first day. 3-5 completed stories with code examples showing what a 2, 5, 8, 13 actually looks like in your codebase. They study it, then shadow 2-3 planning sessions before actively estimating. Speeds up calibration dramatically.
Explicitly tell them: estimation is about relative complexity, not hours. New devs think "2 points = 2 days for me since I'm slow" and panic. Explain a 2-pointer is 2x complex as a 1-pointer, regardless of who implements it. Removes the anxiety.
Controversial: let them estimate higher at first. If experienced devs say 5 but newbie says 8, go with 8. They're seeing learning curve you've forgotten. After 2-3 sprints when they're calibrated, start converging estimates. Don't pressure them to match veterans immediately.