Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M0206

Dot Voting

Dot Voting
DecidemediumDecision Science
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Each team member gets a limited number of 'dots' (stickers or votes) to place on the options they consider most important, quickly converging opinions through a heat map.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Democratize prioritization. After brainstorming generates many ideas, avoid lengthy debates and use 'voting with feet' to quickly identify the group's focus.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Dot voting is a lightweight ranking method used in facilitation where preferences are expressed by placing dots: each person has a certain number of dots, which can be concentrated or spread across options, and options with more dots get priority. It quickly, visually, and with low conflict converges priorities.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    lucid.cohttps://lucid.co/blog/dot-votingZH · Explicit
    verified

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