The Confidence Vote is a crucial ceremony, typically conducted toward the end of PI Planning, that allows teams to signal their collective confidence in achieving the planned Program Increment (PI) content. Kendis provides a dedicated, interactive tool to facilitate this process, ensuring anonymity, real-time results, and historical tracking of commitment.
Key Benefits of Using the Kendis Confidence Vote
Benefit | Description |
Real-time Feedback | Instantly visualize team and PI-level commitment and potential risks immediately after the vote is cast. |
Flexible Configuration | Customize voting duration (5-99 minutes), schedule a start time, and determine the voting scope (PI only, Teams only, or both). |
Remote-Friendly | Generate secure, shareable URLs, allowing non-Kendis users (like stakeholders or third parties) to participate without needing a login. |
Detailed Analysis | Drill down into voting results per team and per confidence level to identify areas needing further discussion or adjustment. |
Structured Process | Provides a standardized and auditable record of the team's commitment to the planned work. |
Export to Sheets | Allows users to export the detailed voting results data for further analysis or archiving outside of the Kendis platform. |
Step-by-Step Guide: Launching and Configuring the Confidence Vote
1. Launching the Confidence Vote Tool
The Confidence Vote tool is launched directly from your Program Increment Board.
Access the Board: Navigate to your relevant PI Board (e.g., "PI Q2 2025").
Open the Planning Menu: In the top-right corner of the board's header, click the 'More' dropdown menu, which is found near the 'Board Settings' button.
Select Confidence Vote: From the expanded menu, click on the 'Confidence Vote' button. This icon is represented by a hand inside a box.
The Confidence Vote interface will open, presenting three primary tabs: 'My Votes,' 'Voting Results,' and 'Settings.'
2. Configuring and Starting a New Vote
The vote configuration is managed under the 'Settings' tab. (Contextual Note: Only an Admin or a user with PI Admin privileges can configure and start a vote.)
Access Settings: Click the 'Settings' tab. If a previous vote has ended, the 'Resume the Vote' button is available in the top right corner. Clicking this allows an Admin to start a new vote session, typically for a revote or to allow late participants to cast their confidence level (see point 7 in Analyzing the Voting Results).
Define Duration: Set the 'Voting Duration' in minutes. The accepted range is between 5 and 99 minutes (non-decimal value).
Schedule Start Time: Set the 'Voting Start Date and Time' using the calendar icon. The selected time must be at least 5 minutes ahead of the current time. (Users will receive a notification on the PI board when the vote is scheduled to begin.)
Select Voting Scope: Choose the participants and the scope of the vote under 'Voting On':
PI + Team: All participants vote on the overall PI plan and the plan of their respective Team.
PI Only: Participants only vote on the overall PI plan.
Team Only: Participants only vote on their respective Team's plan.
Configure Non-Login Participation (External Access):
Check the 'Vote without Login' option to generate secure, shareable URLs. This is essential for allowing external participants (non-Kendis users, like stakeholders or third parties) to vote.
External User Flow: When an external participant opens the shared link, they are first prompted to enter their Name and Email before proceeding to the voting screen. Their vote is immediately added to the results visible to Kendis users.
Specific, unique Voting URLs are automatically generated for:
The overall PI ('Voting URL for the PI').
Each individual Team ('Voting URLs for the Team') (e.g., Team Mars (TM), Third parties (TP)).
Click the 'Copy' button next to any URL or 'Copy All' to quickly distribute the links.
Configure Result Visibility: Under the 'Voting Results' section, check the desired options:
Enable participants to view results: Allows participants to access the 'Voting Results' tab while the vote is running or after it has ended.
Send results in email to all members who have casted the vote: Automates distribution of the final results.
Allow exporting voting result: Enables an export function for detailed data analysis (which corresponds to the Export to Sheets functionality).
7. Start the Vote: After configuration, click the green 'Save' button at the bottom right. The vote session will become active according to the scheduled start time.
Step-by-Step Guide: Participating in the Vote (My Votes)
Participants will use the 'My Votes' tab to cast their confidence level for the planned work.
Access 'My Votes': Click the 'My Votes' tab once the voting session has started.
View Planned Scope: The screen will list the scope of the plan you are required to vote on (e.g., the overall PI Plan and your relevant Team Plan).
Cast the Vote: For each planning scope listed, select one of the six standard confidence levels by clicking the corresponding hand icon:
I don't understand.
No confidence.
Little confidence.
Good confidence.
High confidence (often highlighted in green).
Very high confidence.
Confirmation: A successful vote is indicated by the selected option highlighting (e.g., the hand icon turns green) and a small checkmark icon appearing next to the plan scope name. Your vote is recorded immediately and anonymously (by default).
Step-by-Step Guide: External Participation (Vote without Login)
This section details the experience for non-Kendis users who participate in the Confidence Vote via a shared URL.
Access the Link: Open the unique Voting URL provided by the PI Admin.
Enter Credentials: A registration screen will appear, prompting the user to enter their Name and Email address. This information is used for tracking and result distribution.
Continue to Voting: Click the 'Continue to Voting' button to access the voting interface.
View Applicable Plan: The voting screen will automatically display the plan scope relevant to the link provided, which will be either the PI Plan, the user's Team Plan, or Both, depending on the admin's configuration.
Cast the Vote: Follow the steps in the Participating in the Vote (My Votes) section above to select the appropriate confidence level for each listed plan scope.
Real-Time Results: Once cast, the external vote immediately updates the results visible on the PI board for all Kendis users.
Step-by-Step Guide: Analyzing the Voting Results
The 'Voting Results' tab provides a detailed breakdown of the collective and team-level confidence, facilitating the final Inspect & Adapt discussion.
Access 'Voting Results': Click the 'Voting Results' tab.
Overall PI Results: The first section shows the aggregate confidence for the overall PI plan, including the total votes cast (e.g., 4 votes, status 1/1 complete).
Team-Level Drilldown: Each participating team (e.g., "Team Mars (TM)") is listed with its separate voting results below the overall PI summary.
Analyze Distribution: For each plan scope, the results are displayed visually by confidence level:
Visual Cues: Confidence levels with a high number of votes are represented by a solid, thick bar (e.g., a Good confidence bar is shown in green). Low confidence options, such as No confidence, may be clearly delineated with a red border, signaling significant risk that requires immediate discussion.
Identify Voters (If Configured): For any confidence level, click the 'View All' button to the right of the progress bar. A pop-up will appear, displaying the names of the individuals or teams ('Demo Team' in the screenshot) who voted for that specific option.
(Contextual Note: This granular voter identification is only available if the 'Enable participants to view results' option was checked in the 'Settings' tab.)
Exporting Results: If the 'Allow exporting voting result' option was checked in the settings, a button will be available here to Export to Sheets (or CSV/Excel), providing a raw data dump of all votes.
Resuming/Revoting: If the vote session has ended, the Admin can click the 'Resume the Vote' button in the top right. This action starts a new vote session (a revote). Common reasons for resuming the vote include:
Revote After Low Confidence/Replanning: If the initial results show low collective confidence, triggering a critical discussion and subsequent replanning/refinement, a revote is necessary to ensure the team is confident in the revised plan.
Completing Participation: If some individuals or teams were still refining their plan or were absent during the initial vote, resuming the vote allows them to submit their confidence level and complete the data set.