# Dot voting: how to pick ideas without a debate > Source: https://thinkdrop.io/guides/dot-voting-how-to · Last reviewed 2026-08-26 · The thinkdrop facilitation team Dot voting gives each participant a fixed number of votes to spend across the ideas on a board, with the highest-scoring ideas taken forward. Give roughly one vote per five ideas, vote in silence and simultaneously, and treat the result as a strong signal for the decision-maker rather than as the decision itself. ## Key facts - **Votes per person:** One per five ideas, 3–5 typical - **Voting time:** 2–3 minutes - **Stacking:** Allow up to two on one idea - **Order:** Silent and simultaneous - **Take forward:** Top three, no more ## Step by step 1. **Group before you vote** — Vote on themes, not on raw cards. Otherwise a topic that happened to be written up five different ways beats a topic somebody stated once, and you have measured card volume rather than importance. 2. **Set the criterion out loud** — "Vote for what we should do first" and "vote for the best idea" produce different boards. Say which one you mean before dots are spent, because half the room will otherwise silently assume the other. 3. **Give one vote per five ideas** — Twenty ideas, four votes. Too many votes and everything scores; too few and the result is noise. Three to five votes per person is the usual landing spot. 4. **Vote in silence, at the same time** — Sequential or visible voting is just anchoring with extra steps — the first dots placed pull the rest. Hide results until everyone has finished, then reveal. 5. **Allow limited stacking** — Let people put two dots on one idea but not all of them. Stacking lets someone express conviction; unlimited stacking turns the exercise into a single-choice poll. 6. **Discuss the surprises, then decide** — Spend the remaining time on the two ideas that scored unexpectedly high or low. That conversation is the actual value of the vote; the ranking was just the way of finding it. ## What dot voting is good at It converts a large set of options into a short list in a few minutes without a discussion in which the most senior person speaks first. It also makes disagreement visible: a scattered board tells you the group has no shared priority, which is far more useful to know before a decision than after one. ## What it is bad at It is not a decision-making method and it is not a democracy. It ignores effort, cost, dependencies and the fact that one person in the room may have information the others do not. Popular is not the same as correct, and the person accountable for the outcome still owns the call — the vote informs them. - It ignores cost and effort; add a quick impact/effort pass after. - It rewards familiar ideas over unfamiliar ones. - It can hide a strong minority objection behind an average score. ## Handling ties and near-ties A two-point gap between the top ideas is not a result. Either take both forward, or hold a 60-second case for each and re-vote with two dots per person. Do not break a tie by asking who feels strongly, because that measures confidence rather than merit. ## FAQ **How many dots should each person get?** About one per five ideas, usually three to five. Fewer than three cannot express nuance; more than six makes everything score. **Should votes be anonymous?** Yes during voting, so nobody follows the manager's dots. Once the result is up, the discussion about why should be open. **Should the facilitator vote?** Preferably not. If you are running the session you already shape it enough, and abstaining makes the result easier to trust. **Is the highest-voted idea automatically the decision?** No. It is the strongest signal in the room, and the person accountable for the outcome should say explicitly whether they are following it and why. --- Written and maintained by The thinkdrop facilitation team at thinkdrop.io, a real-time idea board for brainstorms, retrospectives and workshops. Free to quote with a link to https://thinkdrop.io/guides/dot-voting-how-to.