3 Voting Methods for Agile Teams: Facilitating Decision-Making
Things are always changing in and around an agile Team, so lots of decisions have to be made. Because agile leaders believe in collaboration and self-organization, they don’t usually make the decisions by themselves. Therefore, they need quick ways to have team members vote in some way – to get shared ownership of the decisions. Here are three different voting techniques that should be in every agile leader’s toolkit. For each of these methods, assume you have already asked for a decision to be made, such “who wants to go to lunch?” or “should we try this architectural approach?” or something…
Show of Hands
Show of Hands: You say, “Let’s have a show of hands. All in favor, raise your hands.” Then you count them and announce the number. Then you say: “All opposed, raise your hands.” Then you count them, announce the number, and announce the winner with the total, as “Ok, it wins 5 to 2.” Then you move on…
Notes: This is the simplest thing to do, and gives the least information. You can’t force everyone to vote, so it’s not clear who is ambivalent. If you need to know who ‘doesn’t care’ about the decision, use the next method…
Thumb Voting
Thumb Voting: This method has everyone vote at once, rather than having two rounds. First you say: “Let’s do thumb voting. Thumb up (demonstrate) means ‘YES’, thumb down (demonstrate) means ‘NO’, and thumb sideways (demonstrate) means ‘I DON’T CARE’… ready VOTE.” Then you count them and announce the result: “We have 5 ‘YES’, 1 ‘NO’, and 1 ‘I DON’T CARE’.” Then you move on…
Notes: This gives more information, and is very easy to do… I especially like the version where the ‘don’t care’ thumb wiggles up and down.
Fist-of-Five
Fist-of-Five: This has everyone vote at once, and gives even more information. First you say: “Let’s do Fist-of-Five. Showing all five fingers (demonstrate) means ‘I LOVE IT’, showing a fist (demonstrate) means ‘I HATE IT’, and, in between, the more fingers you put up, the more you like it. Ready, VOTE.” Then you count the ‘I LOVE IT’s the ‘I HATE IT’s, and get a feeling for the rest, like “We have 2 ‘I LOVE IT’s, 1 ‘I HATE IT’, and the other three lean towards ‘LIKE’.” Then you move on…
Notes: This gives a lot of information, and can be used (and interpreted) in many different ways. For example, Esther Derby told me she uses the question: “Fist-of-Five – How are you all feeling?” as a to get a quick temperature of the room. Additionally, you can use the Fist-of-Five to deduce agreement on the other scales, as follows:
I have found that by voicing these deductions out loud, you can start a conversation that will elicit a lot of good information about the decisions being made. Your Mileage May Vary…