Catalog
method#Product#Governance#Delivery

Dot Voting

A simple prioritization technique where participants place dots on options to quickly surface group preferences and indicate priority.

Dot voting is a simple, fast prioritization technique where participants place dots or votes on options to reveal preferences.
Established
Low

Classification

  • Low
  • Organizational
  • Organizational
  • Intermediate

Technical context

Digital whiteboards (Miro, MURAL)Survey tools or voting pluginsProduct management tools for importing results

Principles & goals

Provide a clear question and defined goalLimit the number of dots per personInterpret and document results collaboratively
Discovery
Team, Domain

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Misprioritization due to misunderstandings of options
  • Apparent consensus without deeper commitment
  • Manipulation through voting behavior
  • Describe options short, clear, and comparable
  • Set a time-boxed voting phase
  • Translate result into next steps and clarify ownership

I/O & resources

  • Catalog of options or ideas
  • Mechanism to mark (pens, dots, digital tools)
  • Facilitation and a clear question
  • Prioritized list
  • Visual result representation
  • Decision basis for next steps

Description

Dot voting is a simple, fast prioritization technique where participants place dots or votes on options to reveal preferences. It is suited for workshops and team decision-making. The method increases participation and speed but has limitations with complex trade-offs and dependency on framing and facilitation.

✔

  • Quick visibility of group preferences
  • Increased participation from many stakeholders
  • Reduced time compared to lengthy discussions

✖

  • Unsuitable for highly complex, interdependent decisions
  • Outcome depends heavily on how options are framed
  • Cannot fully eliminate dominant voices

  • Time to decision

    Measures duration from presentation to prioritized list.

  • Share of participating stakeholders

    Percentage of invited people who vote.

  • Consistency between selection and later implementation

    Compare selected options with measures actually implemented.

Startup design sprint

A startup used dot voting to prioritize three of ten product ideas, enabling focused prototyping.

Backlog refinement in a mid-size team

The team reduced discussion time and quickly produced a prioritized list for the next sprint.

Stakeholder alignment in strategy workshop

Multiple departments used dot voting to surface shared priorities and discuss resource allocation.

1

Prepare and surface the options.

2

Communicate number of dots and rules.

3

Distribute dots, evaluate results together, and document.

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Not capturing results digitally and traceably
  • No linkage to implementation backlogs
  • Unclear ownership after prioritization
Unclear option textsImbalanced participant groupsLack of facilitation experience
  • Using it for highly complex architectural decisions without further analysis
  • Anonymous mass voting without facilitation leads to skewed priorities
  • Options are changed during the voting process
  • Lack of follow-up on results
  • Distributing too few or too many dots
  • Non-representative participant composition
Facilitation and time managementClarity in option formulationResult interpretation and decision enablement
Need for quick decisions in workshopsLimited facilitation time availableRequirement to involve many stakeholders
  • • Limited number of dots per person
  • • Requires clear, distinct options
  • • Timebox for voting and evaluation phases