100-dollar voting exercise

Everyone gets $100 to allocate to their favorite ideas.

This is a simple prioritization game I play with my team, largely inspired by Dave Mastronardi.

I’ve found it most useful when I have a big decision and set aside time to work through options — for example, during quarterly planning (read Lenny Rachitsky’s deeper dive on Coda’s planning process).

Most priority exercises are one dimensional (”vote on your top 3 priorities”). This works when you need to make a quick decision. However, many situations call for a deeper understanding of how your team actually feels. The $100-dollar exercise adds a second dimension of weight. So not only do you end up with a ranked list of priorities, but you also understand how much your team favors some ideas over others (”the #1 idea is 4x as important as the #2 idea”).

How to play

Have everyone join as Participants.

Add & vote on Ideas ▸ Add and allocate by allocating $100 across them.

Show everyone’s dollar allocation to inform your decisions.

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Getting started

To spin up this game, copy this template or type /100-dollar voting in your doc. Clear sample data.

Join the game.

Add ideas & allocate your $100.

Want to print your doc? This is not the way. Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (CtrlP) instead.