Confidence Vote is an activity done in the Program Increment (PI) Planning session that aims to assess how confident the teams are in delivering progress during the PI. It is done after the objectives of the Program Increment, that need to be achieved during the PI, are addressed along with having all features and user stories prioritized and estimated.

When this session begins, all of the team members of the agile release train raise their hand and with their fingers, vote their level of confidence on the PI Objectives being completed.

Kendis now brilliantly simulates this activity with the new Confidence Vote feature. In this article we shall give you a walkthrough to describe how the confidence vote in kendis can be conducted.

Creating your First Confidence Vote Session

The confidence vote can only be created by the Super Admin, a user with Admin rights or a user that has the permission to Edit Board. You can have a Confidence Vote on any of the three types mentioned below:

     1. PI + Team

Voting for the entire PI and all the teams involved.

     2. PI Only

Voting only for how the Program Increment went.

     3. Teams Only

Voting only for how the teams performed in the Program Increment.
 
Once you have selected an option, you will then select the teams that will be allowed to participate. When you are selecting the PI + Team or Teams option, you will be displayed with a check box that says “Only allow voting on specific teams”. This will enable you to create a separate URL for your selected team(s) that can be shared with the team members that are not a part of Kendis.

Set the Time and Date

The duration of the session can only be set in minutes along with a date for when you would like to commence the Confidence Vote session.

Settings for Displaying the Results

With the time, date and teams set, you can now select how the results for the votes shall be handled.

By default, the Super Admin, a user with Admin rights or a user that has the permission to Edit Board can view the results and the individuals that voted.

But after selecting the option “Enable participants to view the results”, team members who do not have the admin rights can view the results of the session. Similarly, if the option “Show who voted for each option” is selected, then users without admin rights can also see which team member voted for what.

The results for the Confidence Vote can also be sent to the team member’s email that are a part of Kendis or outside of it.

Starting the Confidence Vote Session

Before starting your Confidence Vote, you need to save all of your settings. Once your settings are saved, you can now commence the Confidence Vote session.

All the members of the teams that are part of Kendis will have the option to vote.

How to Vote?

A button shall be visible on the top, next to the Board View Selector that will show that the voting is in progress. When that is clicked the screen for voting shall be displayed. You can select from the following five options.
 

You can also change your vote as long as the session is in progress. Once the time ends, you will not be able to edit your vote.
 

Viewing the Results of the Confidence Vote Session

Results for the vote for the entire PI with PI + Team option selected

 
Once the session is over, the results for the confidence vote can be viewed. If the option for Enable participants to view the results or Show who voted for each option is checked, then the users other than Super Admin, a user with Admin rights or a user that has the permission to Edit Board can view the result and who voted. But if these options are not checked then only the super admin or admin can view the results.
 

Results for the vote for the Team A with PI + Team option selected

Takeaways

Participating in the confidence vote can be a huge burden for some individuals. These individuals may feel hesitant and pressured by their peers to vote. But for doing the vote of confidence, the primary requirement is to create an environment where the people are free to express themselves.

Kendis is paving the way by revolutionizing how Confidence Vote is meant to be done. It happens to be the only tool present that seamlessly makes this happen. It truly enables in creating an environment where people feel comfortable sharing and expressing their views which eventually gives a boost in the morale of the team members as they feel that their opinion is being valued.