Docs · Running rooms
Roles & people
Every participant in a room is a Dev, a QA, or an Observer, and any number of them can also hold moderator controls. This page covers what each role can do, how moderator access is granted, and what happens when someone steps away or drops connection.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
The three roles
When someone joins a room they pick a role: Dev, QA, or Observer. The role determines whether they vote and how their vote is grouped.
Dev and QA can both estimate. When a room isn't split by role, Dev and QA votes are counted together as one team estimate — the role is still shown next to each name, it just doesn't change how the round is scored. When the room is split (see below), Dev and QA are scored as two separate numbers.
Observer can follow along — see the queue, the discussion, and revealed votes — without voting. Observers never count toward the "waiting to vote" total, so a round is never held up waiting on one.
Moderator controls
Moderator isn't a role you pick when joining — it's a permission that gets granted on top of whatever role someone joined with. A room can have more than one moderator at a time.
Moderators manage room settings, start and reveal voting, accept estimates, and manage the queue. From the Participants tab in room settings, an existing moderator can grant moderator access to anyone else in the room, or remove it from another moderator.
If a room currently has no active moderator, anyone in it can claim moderator controls with a "Take moderator" button. The room owner can always reclaim moderator access, even if someone else currently holds it.
- Grant: click the shield-plus icon next to a participant's name in the Participants tab.
- Revoke: click the shield-minus icon next to an existing moderator's name (the room owner can't be demoted this way).
- Claim: when no moderator is active, a "Take moderator" button is available to any participant.
Removing a participant
A moderator can remove someone from the room from the Participants tab in room settings. Removing a participant doesn't lock them out — the confirmation dialog notes that they can rejoin later with the room code.
A few participants can't be removed this way: yourself, the room owner, and (in the demo room) the scripted demo bots.
Separate Dev & QA estimates
Turn on "Separate by role" under "Separate Dev and QA estimates?" in room settings when you want a distinct number from each discipline on the same item — useful when build effort and test effort genuinely differ. With this on, each round collects and accepts a Dev estimate and a QA estimate side by side, plus a combined total once both are in.
Leave it on "One team estimate" to have Dev and QA vote together toward a single number, which is the simpler default for teams that don't need the split.
See how voting and reveal work
Taking a break
Stepping away for a few minutes? Set yourself on break from the user menu rather than leaving the room. While on break, you don't count toward the "waiting to vote" total, so a round isn't held up waiting on you.
Toggle it from the same button: "Set break" while you're active, "Return from break" once you've marked yourself away. Other participants can see who's on break in the presence rail.
Disconnects and idle sessions
If your connection drops, SprintBee tries to reconnect automatically and shows a banner: "Connection lost. Trying to reconnect…" with a "Reconnect now" button. The banner only appears after a few seconds of failed attempts, so a brief blip usually resolves before you notice anything.
The server holds your seat in the room for a 30-second grace period after a disconnect, so a quick refresh or network hiccup doesn't remove you. If you stay disconnected past that window, you're marked as having left and freed up from vote totals; you can rejoin at any time with the room code.
If a browser tab sits idle for 15 minutes with no activity, SprintBee lets go of that session so it doesn't sit around occupying a vote slot indefinitely. Reopening or refocusing the tab prompts you to reconnect.
