Quick start for moderators
There are no accounts, organizations, or subscriptions. A display name is enough to create the room.
Joining a room
With an invite link
Open the link shared by the moderator. Enter a display name and select Join pointing room. The link already contains the room code.
With a room code
Open the application, select Join with code, enter your display name and the complete eight-character code, then select Join room. Codes are not case-sensitive when entered through the application.
Using multiple browser windows for testing
Each regular browser profile keeps one local identity for a room. To represent different people on one computer, use separate browser profiles, different browser applications, or an incognito/private window. Multiple incognito tabs in the same private session may share browser storage, so separate private windows are not always independent.
Roles and moderation
The person who creates a room begins as its moderator. Everyone—including the moderator—can vote. The moderator also controls the session workflow.
| Action | Participant | Moderator |
|---|---|---|
| Choose or change a vote | Yes | Yes |
| Update own display name or away status | Yes | Yes |
| Start, reveal, reset, or complete an item | No | Yes |
| Configure the point values | No | Yes |
| Promote another connected person to moderator | No | Yes |
| Generate the session report or end the room | No | Yes |
Promoting another moderator
In the participant list, select Promote to Moderator beside a connected participant. Moderation transfers immediately. The previous moderator remains in the room as a participant.
If the moderator disconnects
The current moderator has a 30-second window to reconnect. After that window, a connected participant who is not marked away can take the moderator role from the recovery notice. If the original moderator reconnects before the window ends, the takeover option is cancelled.
Pointing a story or ticket
Start the round
When there is no active item, the moderator enters a ticket title, user story, or short description and selects Start pointing.
Choose a value
Select the value that best represents the item's relative size. Your selected value remains visible to you, and you can change it while voting is open. Other participants only see that your vote is ready—not the value you chose.
Reveal votes
The moderator can reveal after at least one vote has been cast. Revealing makes submitted values visible to the room and displays the numeric average and vote distribution. Participants who have not voted remain part of the room but do not contribute to the result.
Clear votes or complete the item
Clear votes reopens the same item for another vote. Use it after the team discusses a wide spread. Complete item adds the current round to session history and returns the room to its ready state.
Point values
New rooms use a focused Fibonacci scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ?. The increasing gaps reflect greater uncertainty in larger work; the question mark lets a participant signal that more clarification is needed.
The moderator can select Configure values or Edit values to enter between 2 and 20 unique point values. Use the plus control to add values and the minus controls to remove optional values. Symbols are supported.
Saving a different set of values clears existing votes and returns the active round to voting. Let the team know before making the change.
Presence and connection status
The participant list shows whether people are available and where the voting process stands.
- Choosing… appears for a connected participant only while an unrevealed item is active and they have not voted.
- Vote ready confirms that a participant has submitted a value without exposing it.
- Away is a status participants set for themselves when stepping out.
- Disconnected means the person's browser has lost its live connection. Their seat remains available for reconnection.
Use the profile controls below the participant list to change your display name or away status.
Results, completed items, and reports
After reveal, the room displays each submitted value, a value distribution, and an average of numeric votes. Non-numeric values such as “?” appear in the distribution but are excluded from the numeric average.
Completing an item adds it to the room's in-memory session history. The moderator can generate an email-ready summary of completed rounds from the session tools. The application prepares the report; it does not maintain a permanent project archive.
Room lifecycle and privacy
Rooms are anonymous and temporary. The application does not use user accounts or a persistent room database. Browser credentials are stored locally so the same browser profile can reconnect while the room still exists.
- By default, a room expires after 24 hours without a state-changing action.
- Simply viewing a room does not extend its lifetime.
- The moderator can deliberately end the room from session tools.
- A server restart also removes active rooms because room state is held in memory.
- Once a room is expired or ended, it and its history cannot be recovered.
Troubleshooting
“Room not found”
Check that the full eight-character code is correct and that the room has not expired or been ended. If everyone sees the error, ask the moderator to create a new room.
“Unable to reach the pointing server”
Confirm your internet connection and reload the page. If other websites load normally, wait briefly and try again. See the support page if the problem continues.
The room says it is reconnecting
Keep the page open while the application retries. If it does not reconnect, reload the room link in the same browser profile so your locally stored room identity can be reused.
I joined as the wrong person
Change your display name in the participant profile controls. If you are testing multiple identities, use separate browser profiles or different browsers rather than ordinary tabs.