MENTAL MODEL · M9869

Dot Voting

DecidemediumDecision Science

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Updated 2026-09-11

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Dot voting is a group decision tool in which every option is displayed and each participant receives a fixed budget of three to five dots to distribute as they wish, all on one option or spread across many. The core proposition is that a ranking conversation costs time and rewards the loudest voice, while a dot distribution records preference intensity quickly and silently, exposing which ideas carry real energy and which have no support at all. The key qualification is that the tool aggregates independent judgements, so it works for prioritising a set already generated and cannot substitute for the generation of the set itself.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Cap The Budget: give each person a fixed dot allowance so preferences must be ranked by spending. - Read The Heat: treat the dot distribution as a map of where the room's energy sits. - Decide The Rule: agree in advance how many options the high scores admit.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

A single vote records only a binary choice and ignores how strongly the voter cares, so a mildly preferred option can beat a passionately wanted one by majority arithmetic. A dot budget forces preference intensity to be expressed, because spending two dots on one option means withholding them from others. Because every participant spends in parallel and in silence, the distribution reflects the whole group rather than the trajectory of an argument, and the resulting heat map surfaces options with real backing in minutes.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Post every candidate option where all participants can see them at once. 2. Give each person the same small budget of dots and state the rules. 3. Let participants distribute dots freely, all on one option or spread around. 4. Count the dots and mark the threshold or the number of winners in advance. 5. Close by reviewing the distribution, including the options that received nothing.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

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