Templates · Ideas & planning

Dot Voting

One list and one vote: the team puts every option on the table and finds out which few it wants to pursue.

What it is

Dot voting is a plain way for a group to choose. Every option goes on the board as a card of its own, each person has the same small number of votes, and the options that collect the most are the ones the group takes forward. A single column is enough, because the vote does the work.

Goal

A short list that everyone had a say in: the few options the team will act on, chosen without the loudest voice deciding for the others.

When to use it

• The list is longer than what the team can do: improvement ideas left over from earlier retrospectives, subjects for a workshop, candidates for the next cycle’s focus.
• A discussion keeps going round and the team needs to see where it stands.
• The group is large: a vote still works where a conversation no longer does.

When to pick another format

A vote shows a preference and none of the reasons behind it. When the options are few and the stakes high, weigh each one with Pros and Cons. When the question is what cannot wait, more than what people like best, sort the list with Idea Prioritization. When the team wants to talk through what it voted for, take Lean Coffee.

How to run it

Say which question the vote answers before anyone writes. “What do we do next sprint?” and “What matters most?” do not give the same result.

Topics and ideas: everyone adds options, one per card. Split a card that holds two ideas. Read the column together, merge the cards that say the same thing, and do not argue the merits yet.

Then vote. Agree first on how many votes each person has, few enough that people must choose, and on whether several may go to the same card. Ask people to vote without commenting, so that the first votes do not steer the others.

Read the result from the top. Where two options are close, talk about the difference before voting again. Take the first few only, and give each an action with an owner and a date. Say what happens to the rest: dropped, or kept for another time.

Columns

To start a retrospective from this template, see Create a retro.