Planning poker in Telegram: sprint estimation in your group chat

15 October 2026 · Updated 16 October 2026 · 6 min read

Plenty of teams don't live in Slack or Teams. Their stand-ups, links and decisions happen in a Telegram group. Planning poker usually means sending everyone off to some other tab, account or app, and losing half of them on the way. This guide shows how to run sprint estimation where the team already talks: live over a call, or async across a few days, straight from the chat.

Why estimate where the team already talks

The hardest part of planning poker is often getting everyone to the table. Every extra step loses someone: a sign-up form, an install, a link buried in an email. When the room opens from a message in the group everyone already reads, the step disappears. People tap and vote.

It also keeps the conversation in one place. The question that comes up during a reveal ("wait, does this include the migration?") goes into the same chat as the link, where the whole team sees it and the answer stays searchable for the sprint.

Set up a room in two minutes

1. Create the room. Open @storyvoteappbot in Telegram, or create a room in your browser. Pick a deck (Fibonacci, T-shirt sizes or your own cards), and live or async.
2. Post it to the group. Inside Telegram, the Invite button's link opens the room as a Mini App. From a browser, the Invite button's "Share via Telegram" row copies that link or opens Telegram's chat picker.
3. Pin the message. A pinned room link means latecomers find it without asking, and the same link works for the whole session.

Teammates who open the link inside Telegram land straight in the room with their Telegram name filled in: no name prompt, no account. Anyone who prefers a browser opens the same room there.

A live session over a group call

For a classic planning meeting, start a voice or video chat in the group and open the room alongside it. The facilitator puts a story on the table, everyone picks a card, and the cards stay face down until the reveal, so nobody anchors on the first number said out loud.

• Talk about the spread, not the average. When the reveal shows a 3 and a 13, ask those two to explain. That conversation is the point of the exercise.
• Give every story a clock. A discussion timer that everyone sees keeps a group call from drifting. More on that in timeboxing sprint planning.
• Let the product owner watch. Anyone can join as a spectator: they follow every round without voting, and the "voted" count leaves them out.

Async estimation across time zones

Telegram groups often span time zones, and a call at a time that suits everyone may not exist. An async room fits the way a group chat already works: people answer when they get to it.

• Every story opens as you add it. There's no story "on the table": each person works through the list in their own time, and the Stories button shows how many are still waiting for their card.
• Open until you reveal. Each story stays open for votes until the host or a facilitator reveals its cards.
• Discuss the outliers in the chat. When a story reveals with a wide spread, reply to the pinned link with a short question for the people at each end, then revote.

Mixed teams: Telegram, Discord and browser in one room

Not everyone has to use Telegram. People in the Mini App and people in a browser vote in the same room, with the same cards, discussion timer and results. A contractor on a laptop and a developer on their phone in Telegram see the same reveal at the same moment.

In Telegram you're recognised by your Telegram account, so you keep your seat on any device you open the room on. In a browser, a cookie keeps your seat in that browser.

What Telegram shares, and what it doesn't

When a room opens as a Mini App, Storyvote receives your Telegram ID and the name you show there, signed by Telegram so it can't be faked. Nothing else: no phone number, no contacts and no messages. Ending a session deletes the room and its stories at once. The privacy policy has the details.

If something looks off inside Telegram, the same room always works in a browser.

Try it with your group

Pick three stories from your next sprint, post a room to the group and see how many people vote before the end of the day. The Telegram page has a short overview of the Mini App.