Give multiple dots to vote and make it fun
Give multiple dots to vote and make it fun
Free Facilitation Course: Simple tips for less terrible meetings
1. Setup roles and rules so that it feels like a game
1. Setup roles and rules so that it feels like a game
2. Define a time limit per topic to ensure you end up on time
2. Define a time limit per topic to ensure you end up on time
3. Use sticky notes to show where the discussion is
3. Use sticky notes to show where the discussion is
4. Create a parking space for new ideas and off topic elements
4. Create a parking space for new ideas and off topic elements
5. Use votes to not talk for hours about what's already obvious
5. Use votes to not talk for hours about what's already obvious
6. Make people work in smaller groups and then share the summary
6. Make people work in smaller groups and then share the summary
7. Separate the mindsets to make it less confusing
7. Separate the mindsets to make it less confusing
What you learned and how to make it stick
What you learned and how to make it stick
Place the different options you want to vote on on different sticky notes on a wall. If you have followed the advice from this course this should be no extra work as you already took notes of the main ideas on sticky notes.
You'll then introduce the idea of voting by dots: if you are fancy you can give little dot stickers to people and if you are just practical person every participant can use a pen to draw a dot.
Each person gets the same amount of dots to vote. Usually between 3 to 5 to make the voting go quick. Each participant can vote for the best idea by placing a dot on the sticky note of the idea.
But to make it a bit more fun, people can split their votes on different ideas, or they can put multiple votes on the same idea to show that this particular idea is really, really, really smart.
When people have their dots, and know how to vote, I suggest to remind them what's the criteria to vote. For example: vote for the idea you find the most fun to work on. Vote for the idea that has the most impact. Vote for the solution that is the quickest to implement. And so on.
At the end of the dot voting session, I recommend that you rearrange your sticky notes. Sort the ideas by number of votes. The one with most votes goes on the top of the wall, and the one with the least votes goes at the bottom of the wall.
By doing so we can quickly see what is the best idea for the team.
From there, it's up to you. Either you choose just the best idea, or you have a quick conversation to choose between the top three as an important piece of feedback might influence your final choice.
What's sure is that you don't need to talk about the ideas that have no or nearly no votes. What would have been usually the case. Thanks to the little dots you saved some precious minutes!
By the way, voting with dots is something that is well documented, it has even a name: it's called dotmocracy. If you want to look smart during the next office dinner party I recommend that you read the interesting Wikipedia article that explains everything about dotmocracy or dot voting.