Planning Poker Cards & Scales

Fibonacci, T-shirt sizes, powers of two — which deck should your team use?

A planning poker deck is just a set of values everyone votes with. The scale you pick shapes how your team thinks about size. Here are the most common decks and when to use each.

The Fibonacci scale (the classic)

The Fibonacci sequence (each number is the sum of the previous two) is the default for a reason: the widening gaps mirror how uncertainty grows with size. Nobody argues over 9 versus 10 — you're forced to choose 8 or 13, which keeps estimation honest and fast.

Fibonacci Lite (1, 3, 5, 8, 13)

A trimmed Fibonacci deck that removes the noisiest options. Fewer choices mean faster votes and less bikeshedding — great for teams that want momentum. It's the default scale in Poker Sizing.

T-shirt sizing (XS–XXL)

Instead of numbers, tasks are sized as clothing sizes. It's fast and intuitive, and perfect for early, rough sizing of a large backlog or for non-technical stakeholders. The trade-off is precision: teams often convert sizes to points later.

Powers of two (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32)

A doubling scale with even steeper gaps than Fibonacci. Some engineering teams prefer it because "twice as big" is an easy mental model.

Special cards

• ? (question mark) — "I don't have enough information to estimate." A signal to clarify the item.
• ☕ (coffee) — "I need a break." A light-hearted way to pause a long session.
• 0 — trivial or already done; sometimes used for tiny tweaks.
• ∞ / big — "too large to estimate; this needs to be split."

Which scale should you choose?

The best scale is the one your team applies consistently. Whatever you pick, keep a stable reference item so estimates stay comparable over time.