Dot Voting
Updated 2026-09-11
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A facilitation method, widely used in design sprints and workshops, in which every participant gets an equal budget of sticky dots or marks and allocates them across candidate options. Options accumulating the most dots win or advance to the next round. The key qualification is that equal budget: because everyone holds the same number of votes, intensity and breadth of preference are expressed within one constraint. It is a fast prioritization device rather than a deliberative procedure, and it works best when the options are already framed and distinct.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Preference snapshot: collect independent votes before discussion so early speakers do not anchor the room. - Priority triage: rank a long candidate list quickly by total dot counts. - Outlier probe: inspect the options that split the room instead of concentrating support.
Anchor fast decisions
Discussion is serial and loud voices dominate, so a silent simultaneous vote lets every member express preference at once without social cost. Aggregating the marks converts dispersed private judgments into one visible distribution, which shortens convergence time and exposes genuine disagreement instead of the appearance of consensus.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- lucid.cohttps://lucid.co/blog/dot-votingverified
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