Dot Voting

Dot voting, sometimes called dotmocracy, is a quick way for a group to prioritize a list without a full discussion of every option. Each participant gets a fixed budget of dots, often four or five, and spends them on the items they care about most, either putting one dot on several options or stacking several dots on a single favorite. The options with the most dots rise to the top.

In agile teams, dot voting shows up in backlog grooming, sprint retro action items, and roadmap sessions, anywhere a group has more options than time to debate each one individually. It works because it forces a real trade-off: spending a dot on one item is a dot you cannot spend on another, which a simple show of hands does not capture.

Votably runs dot voting as a live session with a configurable dot budget per participant. A hidden mode keeps the tally secret until the facilitator reveals it, which stops the running count from steering later votes, and named criteria let a facilitator run several votes, each with its own dot color, in a single session.

Most dot voting tools live inside a whiteboard app that needs a Miro or Mural account before anyone can place a dot, or a physical board that only works if the group is in one room with markers. Votably is a dot voting online tool that is free with no login: participants open a share link, add a display name, and spend their dots from their own phone. Hidden mode keeps the running count out of view until the facilitator reveals it, so the group votes on the options, not on whichever dot is currently winning.