- Planning Poker Card decks series -

Yes/No

Best for: Quick group decisions, feature scope votes, and go/no-go approvals — not estimation

Yes

Yes/No is not an estimation deck. It is a decision-making tool. When your team needs rapid binary consensus — should we include this feature in the current sprint? Is this story ready to estimate? Do we accept these acceptance criteria? — Yes/No gives every team member equal voice without a discussion that spirals. The simultaneous reveal mechanic still matters: seeing everyone's vote at once prevents the first person who speaks from anchoring the group. A split result (mixed Yes and No) is not a failure — it is the signal that the team has different mental models of the question, and those differences need surfacing before you move forward.

Cards: Yes, No.

How to use Yes/No in planning poker

State the question precisely before anyone votes. "Should we include this feature in the sprint?" is ambiguous. "Is this story scoped well enough to begin development this sprint, given our current capacity?" is better. Give the team 30 seconds to think, then reveal simultaneously. If the vote is unanimous Yes, move on immediately. If it is unanimous No, note the reason and park the item. If the vote is mixed, ask the No voters what would need to change for them to vote Yes — that conversation is usually more productive than a re-vote.

Example tasks and point mappings

Feature go/no-go: "Should we build the CSV export feature in this quarter's scope?" Story readiness: "Is this user story ready to estimate, or does it need more acceptance criteria?" Release decision: "Are we confident enough to release this feature to production today?" Bug triage: "Does this bug block the release or can it go to the next sprint?" Process agreement: "Should we move our refinement sessions from Tuesday to Thursday?"

When to consider a different deck

Sizing or complexity estimation — use Fibonacci, T-Shirt Sizes, or Simple Numbers instead. Questions with more than two meaningful answers. Decisions where the team needs to express degree of confidence rather than a binary position (for those, consider a 1–5 confidence vote using Simple Numbers).