Dotmocracy in Action: How to Use Dot Voting to Improve Your Agile Process

Hey there, fellow IT enthusiasts and project managers! Today, I'm excited to share a fun and effective technique that has been a game-changer in my project management journey: Dot Voting! If you've ever found yourself tangled in endless discussions while trying to prioritize tasks with your development team, then you're in for a treat.

Dot Voting, is a simple yet powerful technique that has become an indispensable part of our project planning process. Dot Voting has transformed the way we prioritize tasks, allowing us to tap into our team's collective wisdom and accelerate the decision-making process.

In this LinkedIn article, I'll walk you through my experience with Dot Voting, how it has impacted my development team's dynamics, and the magic it can bring to your project management toolbox

What is Dot Voting Estimation Technique?

Dot Voting, also known as dotmocracy or sticker voting, is a straightforward and efficient way to prioritize items in agile estimation. Team members are given a small number of dots (usually stickers) to allocate to tasks based on their size and prioritization. Tasks with the most dots are considered a higher priority or larger in size.

What Are the Steps Involved in the Dot Voting Estimation Technique for Agile Project Prioritization?

In an Agile project environment, the Dot Voting Estimation Technique offers a simple and efficient way to prioritize tasks. The process begins with the product owner or scrum master organizing an estimation session, where team members gather to review and vote on a set of items. User stories are prepared on small cards beforehand and placed on a wall or table for easy visibility. Each team member is provided with a certain number of dots, typically stickers, which is roughly 25% of the total items being estimated. For instance, if there are 16 items, each member would receive 4 dots. Before voting starts, the product owner or scrum master should clarify the purpose of the session, ensuring that the team members understand the expectations. Participants are expected to vote on the criteria in which they have either ownership or domain expertise. As the voting unfolds, team members place their dots on the user stories they believe are of larger size or require higher prioritization. The process continues until all dots are used. Finally, the stories with the most dots are deemed high priority, and the product owner organizes them in descending order based on the number of dots received. This easy-to-follow process allows for a collaborative and quick prioritization of tasks in an Agile setting.

Planning Poker vs. Dot Voting

Planning Poker is a popular Agile estimation method that promotes collaborative and consensus-based estimation through discussions around user stories. This approach ensures that the entire team has a mutual understanding of tasks, leading to more accurate estimations. On the other hand, Dot Voting is a simple and quick technique for prioritizing items without in-depth discussions. It allows teams to tap into their collective wisdom and make prioritization decisions efficiently. However, it might not be the best choice for estimating task complexity and effort, it is the most suitable for small user stories. In essence, the choice between Planning Poker and Dot Voting depends on your team's specific needs and priorities. If your primary goal is to encourage in-depth conversations and develop a comprehensive understanding of user stories, Planning Poker is the way to go. Conversely, if assessing user insights to further explore or rapid prioritization is your main objective, Dot Voting can be an effective solution.

Relative Task Estimation with Dot Voting

In the context of Dot Voting for agile estimation, there is no fixed conversion rate between the number of dots and the size or complexity of a task. The number of dots a task receives is a relative measure, indicating the priority or size of the task compared to others. It is essential to remember that Dot Voting is a prioritization technique rather than an exact measure of task complexity or effort.

Scenario: Prioritizing Healthcare CRM Features with Dot Voting

In this scenario, we will examine how a team working on a Healthcare CRM project for hospitals and clinics employs the Dot Voting technique to prioritize new features for their system. Through this real-life example, you will gain insights into how Dot Voting can be an invaluable tool for agile estimation and prioritization.

Context:

Imagine an agile team working on a Healthcare CRM project for hospitals and clinics. The product owner has identified a list of new features they want to introduce in the next release. The team needs to prioritize these features based on their size and importance to users. They decide to use the Dot Voting technique to achieve this goal.

Features to prioritize:

1. Appointment scheduling
2. Patient records management
3. Prescription management
4. Billing and invoicing
5. Insurance claims processing
6. Analytics and reporting
7. Telemedicine integration
8. Staff management

Dot Voting session:

1. The Scrum Master organizes a Dot Voting session, inviting all team members to participate.
2. The product owner writes each feature on a separate card and displays them on a wall or table in random order.
3. Each team member is given a set of dots (stickers) - in this case, two dots per member as there are eight features to prioritize.
4. The Scrum Master briefly explains the purpose of the Dot Voting session and the expectation that each member should prioritize features based on their size and importance.
5. The team members review the features, placing their dots on the cards they think are the most important or larger in size. They can allocate both dots to a single feature or distribute them among two different features.
6. After all team members have placed their dots, the cards are ordered based on the total number of dots received.

Results:

The final prioritized list of features based on the Dot Voting session might look like this:

1. Patient records management (10 dots)
2. Appointment scheduling (8 dots)
3. Telemedicine integration (6 dots)
4. Billing and invoicing (5 dots)
5. Insurance claims processing (4 dots)
6. Prescription management (3 dots)
7. Analytics and reporting (2 dots)
8. Staff management (2 dots)

The team can now focus on implementing the features in the prioritized order, ensuring they deliver the most important and larger features first.

What Are Some Online Tools for Conducting Agile Dot Voting?

Online tools have made remote collaboration easier and more efficient than ever before. When it comes to agile estimation techniques like Dot Voting, several online tools are available to make the process more streamlined and effective. Here are some of the most popular online tools for conducting Dot Voting sessions:

1. FunRetro offers a Dot Voting template that allows team members to brainstorm ideas, vote on them, and visualize the results in real time.
2. EasyRetro features a Dot Voting template that simplifies the voting process and helps teams prioritize their work effectively.
3. Miro provides a versatile Dot Voting template that enables teams to collaborate, prioritize, and make decisions on a shared digital canvas.
4. Retrium's blog post offers valuable insights into using agile Dot Voting and outlines how their platform can facilitate the process.
5. GoRetro features an informative blog post that showcases the power of Dot Voting and offers a platform for agile retrospectives and prioritization.

Let's Dot Vote!

Now that you have a solid understanding of dot voting, why not try it out in your next team meeting? Experiment with different approaches, such as allowing participants to vote based on their expertise and ownership of criteria, and using online tools for remote collaboration. You may find that dot voting helps your team make decisions more efficiently and effectively. Let's dot vote! It is time to turn your meetings into a dotmocracy :)