Form
Structured entry with question, all collected ideas, clarification notes, scoring results (ranking or point sum), top ideas, and follow-up actions with owner and date.
RunsheetFacilitation
Nominal Group Technique
ComplexityMedium
Time60-120 min
Participants5-12
FormatWorkshop
MaturityCanonical
01
Preparation
What needs to be ready before start
Materials
Whiteboard or Miro, stickies or digital cards, timer, scoring materials (points, scales, or digital voting tools), and a clear question as header.
People / roles
A facilitator with moderation experience; 5-12 participants; one scribe for clarification and voting phase.
Pre-read
Clear open question, one-page background material, purpose (prioritization, problem solving, option sharpening), and known tensions in the group (dominance, hierarchy).
Time needed
60-120 min
Setup
Question is visible at the top. Quiet working zone. Round-robin collection area. Scoring area. Rule: phases are kept and no premature discussion.
02
Core question
The one question this method answers
Which ideas, options, or priorities emerge when every voice gets equal space and scoring is done separately?
03
Flow
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Question and silent idea generation | 10-15 min | Clarify the question. Silent work: each person writes down 5-15 ideas or answers independently without discussion. | Silent work is absolute. No side conversations. Early sharing changes others’ ideas and breaks the method effect. |
2Phase 2: Round-robin collection | 20-40 min | Take turns to add one idea per person to the wall. Multiple rounds until all ideas are shared. No discussion, no scoring. | Exactly one idea per person per round. If someone shares multiple, they dominate. Scribe captures notes, facilitator enforces discipline. |
3Phase 3: Clarification | 15-20 min | One-by-one: which ideas need clarifying questions? Idea owner clarifies briefly. No scoring, no discussion about value. | Clarification is not debate. If someone says "but," they are in the wrong phase. Clarify first, score later. |
4Phase 4: Scoring | 10-20 min | Scoring done silently and individually: ranking (numbered top 5) or point allocation (1-5 per idea). Aggregate to group priority. | Voting silently and in parallel. Online tool recommended because anonymity strengthens the method. |
5Phase 5: Synthesis and discussion | 15-25 min | Show top ideas. Optional additional scoring round after a short discussion. Derive follow-up actions. | If top ideas are surprising, it is often a real signal. Premature explanation can erase the value. |
04
Artifact
What comes out at the end
Versioning / ownership
One entry per question with date. For repeat NGT sessions on the same question create new iteration, compare top ideas across versions.
Tool alternatives
- Miro or FigJam with stickies and voting
- Slido or Mentimeter for voting
- Notion table with vote column
- Whiteboard plus dot stickers with photo export
nominal-group-technique-working-template.md
Compact working template for Nominal Group Technique with silent idea generation, clarification, and ranking.
Nominal Group Technique Working Template
Goal
Collect ideas fairly, clarify them, and rank them with a structured group vote.
Context
What question should the group answer, and what decision follows?
Input
- Focus question:
- Group members:
- Constraints:
- Source notes:
Working area
- Silent ideas:
- Clarification questions:
- Ranking or voting:
- Priority themes:
Output artifacts
- Ranked ideas:
- Clarified options:
- Priority list:
Open questions
- ...
Decision / next step
Owner, date, and success signal.
05
Example output
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
nominal-group-technique-beispiel.md
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
NGT — Priorities for Platform Team Roadmap H2/2026 (28.05.2026, 90 min, 9 people)
Question: Which three investments improve adoption of the platform stack by product teams the most?
Round-Robin (28 ideas) excerpt:
- Golden Path documentation for frontend
- Self-Service database provisioning
- Onboarding workshop for new engineers
- Cost dashboards per service
- Migration support program
- Performance test templates
- Weekly Slack office hours with the platform team
- Backstage Service Catalog in production
- ...
Clarification: 7 clarification questions. "Migration support program" was specified as "one sprint with a platform engineer as pair per team."
Scoring (ranking 1-5 per person):
- Backstage Service Catalog in production (score 38).
- Migration support program (score 33).
- Self-Service database provisioning (score 29).
- Slack office hours (score 22).
- Golden Path frontend (score 18).
Follow-up actions:
- Backstage catalog spike (Owner: @anna, by 20.06.).
- Migration support pilot team Discovery (Owner: @ben, from 01.07.).
- DB provisioning RFC (Owner: @lisa, by 13.06.).
06
Pitfalls
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Trap
Silent work is not enforced
Symptom
Participants speak early, dominant people push their first ideas, and others lose their own thinking.
What to do
Facilitator enforces the silent-work rule strictly. If violations repeat, pause and reset.
Trap
Round-robin becomes pitching
Symptom
Participants explain ideas for 2-3 minutes, others wait and forget their own.
What to do
Maximum 15-30 seconds per idea during collection. Explanations happen during clarification.
Trap
Scoring in clarification phase
Symptom
"But" comments appear during clarification, scoring starts too early.
What to do
Keep clarification phase strict: only understanding questions. Stop participants saying "but" and move their points to phase 5.
Trap
Public voting
Symptom
Visible hands lead to conformity, junior people follow seniors.
What to do
Use anonymous voting in tool or hidden cards. Only aggregate results are visible, not individual votes.
Trap
No follow-up action
Symptom
Session ends with a top list but no owner or date.
What to do
Reserve last 15-25 minutes for actions. One concrete owner and date for each top idea, otherwise the method dissipates.
07
Stop criteria
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Group under 5; open discussion or one-to-one format is sufficient.
Group over 12, round-robin slows down; split into smaller groups.
Question is not open, but has a clear right answer; NGT is oversized.
Facilitator cannot keep phase discipline, method collapses.
Safety is missing, anonymous scoring is not possible, conformity distorts signal.
Conflict is primarily political, not substantive; NGT does not solve power dynamics.
Finished the runsheet?
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.