Agree on ideas that resonate most within the group to narrow down and prioritize a large amount of possibilities.
👥 3 and more people | ⏰ between 15 and 30 minutes
Objectives
In a gamestorming session, when there are too many good ideas, too many concepts, and too many possibilities to proceed, dot voting is one of the simplest ways to prioritize and converge upon an agreed solution.
Use this technique to collaboratively prioritize any set of items. You could use it to hone a list of features, agree on discussion topics, or choose from multiple strategies and concepts.
Instructions
First, the group needs a set of things to vote on! This may be something they have just developed, such as a wall of sticky notes, or it may be a flip-chart list that captures the ideas in one place. Ask the group to cast their votes by placing a dot next to the items they feel the most strongly about. They may use stickers or markers to do this. As a rule of thumb, giving each participant five votes to cast works well.
Participants cast their votes all at once and they may vote more than once for a single item if they feel strongly about it. Once all the votes are cast, tally them, and if necessary make a list of the items by their new rank.
This prioritized list becomes the subject of discussion and decision-making. In some cases, it may be useful to reflect on ideas that didn’t receive votes to verify that they haven’t been left behind without cause.
Source:
http://www.gamestorming.com/core-games/dot-voting/
https://www.slideshare.net/almingwork/nyt-product-discovery-activity-guide