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Think free tools save money? Hidden inefficiencies in Planning Poker can cost Agile teams over $14K annually. Discover a smarter alternative with Smart Guess

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## Case example: One minute saved during story estimation for a 200-member  dev-organization
### What is the $ value of that?

Notice that with Smart Guess, teams save more than one minute, as explained below.

Inspired by the following question posted on the Atlassian Community: ["Help me find an estimation tool that my IT admins will approve "](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/Help-me-find-an-estimation-tool-planning-poker-agile-poker-that/qaq-p/1488138). Let's use the information from the article and make assumptions to estimate the cost of lost time. Let's say:

- 200 members (10% of 2000 employee company) take part in story estimation on average/week
- 60 minutes for story estimation/week on average per dev-team 

Let's calculate the value of one minute, to understand the cost of lost time vs. a tool that saves time.

### How much time can the company save by selecting a better solution?
A better solution that manages to save only 1 minute during story estimation will save:
- 200 planning users/week   * 1 minute saving/meeting * 4 estimation meetings/month = 800 minutes saved / month
-   Which is:  800 minutes / 60minutes per hour = 13,3 hours saved /month
-   Which is: 13.3 hours/month * 12 months/year = 160 hours saved / year

### Let's calculate the value of 160 hours saved/year:
- According to [Clockify](https://clockify.me/working-hours), there are: 1757 working hours/per year in the US
- According to [Statista.com](https://www.statista.com/chart/22030/average-tech-worker-salary-in-us-cities/), the average tech salary in the US per year is: $124.000
- $124.000 / 1757 hours = $70 / hour average salary

In addition, according to [this study](http://web.mit.edu/e-club/hadzima/how-much-does-an-employee-cost.html) total cost of an employee in the US, taking taxes and benefits into account is 1.25-1.40 times the base salary.

### One minute saved pays thousands of dollars every year
At a critical place in your process, one minute saved pays back a considerable amount every year:
- 160 hours saved/year * $70 / hour average tech salary = $11.200 saved / every year (not including taxes and benefits)
- **$14000 - $15680 saved / every year** (including taxes and benefits)

### With Smart Guess, teams are saving much more than 1 minute
Only looking at the Scrum master job, then all of the following tasks are removed:
1. No "estimation session" to create
2. No "estimation backlog" to create
3. No importing of stories into the planning poker tool
4. No invites/links to send team-members 
5. No exporting story points back into Jira

Skipping all these tasks saves more than one minute of Scrum master's time. In addition:

> When our team started using Smart Guess, the story estimation effort dropped significantly, powered by one-click estimates within the Jira issue. 
> The most significant relief was our development team began giving estimates when browsing the backlog. Without anyone asking them to do so! 

### Conclusion
So given this, even though a better solution might cost a couple of thousand dollars/year, it has the potential to pay back multiple times every year. This is why Smart Guess was built to work perfectly with the Jira Issue and the Jira Backlog - optimizing the flow of work for everyone taking part in story estimation.

The Hidden Cost of Free Planning Poker: How Teams Lose $14K+ Yearly

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Run one-click Planning Poker directly from the Jira Backlog and never look back. Estimate faster, collaborate better, and keep everyone aligned.  

> “After trying many tools in Jira, we landed on Smart Guess. It's the best app ❤️ we've ever used!”  

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Transform Your Planning Poker

Every missed deadline has a cause. Every blown estimate has a reason. 

But without connecting the dots across sprints, you're experiencing the same problems over and over.

We'd been underestimating integrations for 18 months. It was obvious once we could finally see it.

How Many Sprints Before You Spot the Pattern?

When stakeholders push for aggressive timelines, you feel the risk. 

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You Know It's a Bad Estimate. But Can You Prove It?

Two 5-point stories. One takes 2 days, the other takes 2 weeks. Your team estimated them the same—but something made them wildly different. 

Without visibility into what, you'll keep guessing.

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Same Story Points. Different Outcomes. Why?

Dozens of estimation sessions per team. Hundreds of data points. All of it disappears the moment the meeting ends. What if that data could actually improve your predictions?

_"Years of Planning Poker sessions—finally doing something useful."_

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You Run Planning Poker Every Sprint. What Happens to That Data?

Stakeholders add urgent work mid-sprint. You know it hurts delivery—but without concrete data, you can't quantify the damage or push back effectively.

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How Much Did That 'Quick Request' Actually Cost?

Story points tell you relative size. They don't tell you when something will ship. The gap between estimation and prediction is where promises break.

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Your Team Estimates. But Can You Actually Predict?

Issues sit in "In Review" for days. Blockers hide in "Waiting for Info" for weeks. 

Without visibility into time spent per status, you're managing blind. 

_"We discovered issues were spending 60% of their lifecycle waiting—not being worked on."_

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Where Does Your Team's Time Actually Go?

Every retrospective, the same question: _"Why didn't we finish?"_ Without time-in-status data, you're debating opinions instead of analyzing facts.

_"Turns out our bottleneck wasn't development—it was code review. We never would have known without the data."_

Find your real bottlenecks—start free 📊

Stop Guessing Why Sprints Slip

Every process has blind spots. Time In Status reveals the delays your workflow has normalized—the ones nobody questions anymore.

_"At sprint end, our 'quick QA pass' was averaging 3+ days. Nobody realized until we measured it."_

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It's Been In QA For How Long?

Every status change in Jira is a data point. But without analysis, it's just noise. 

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Turn Status History Into Process Insights

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A free tool costing more than $14.000/year in lost time - is that a free tool?

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