Example polls
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Short text. One anonymous open question.
/poll "What is one thing that would make our standups more useful?" short text anonymous
Free
Anonymous
Short text with voting. Ideas people can vote up with the bulb reaction.
/poll "Ideas for the next team offsite activity" short text :bulb:
Free
Survey (3 questions). A rating followed by open questions, the last one optional.
/poll "Release retro" "Anonymous, two minutes." anonymous close after 2 days --- "How smooth was this release?" scale --- "What slowed you down?" short text --- "Anything else?" short text optional
Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically
AnonymousClose automatically: after 2 days
When to ask one
- After a rating: "How did the sprint go?" on a scale, then "What would have made it better?"
- When you don't know the options yet: collecting ideas, questions or blockers.
- Retros and feedback, where the detail is the point.
Don't use one when you need a count. "What day works?" as free text gives you twenty differently written answers to tally by hand.
Asking one in Slack
In Simple Poll an open-ended question is a short text poll. It takes no options. Add
anonymous when people would hold back with their name attached.
Add one of the supported reactions after it, like short text :bulb:, and people can
vote on each other's answers, so the best ideas rise. The reactions you can use are
:thumbsup: :bulb: :heart: :joy: :tada: :rocket: :fire: and
:small_red_triangle:.
In a survey (Premium), a short text question can be marked optional. Make open
questions optional when they come after required ones: people who have nothing to add
can skip instead of typing "n/a".
Reading the answers
Read every answer, group them into a handful of themes, count each theme, and quote one or two answers word for word. Don't guess at who wrote what in an anonymous poll. If a theme needs a decision, follow up with a choice or ranked poll on the top suggestions.
Questions
Can I hide short text answers until the poll closes?
Yes, with hide results, as long as the poll has no voting reaction. With a reaction,
such as short text :bulb:, answers are always visible so people can vote on them.
How many open questions should a survey have?
One or two. Each one takes real effort to answer and to read.
Related
- Sprint retrospective poll for Slack
At the end of every sprint, before the retro meeting, so people can answer honestly and you walk in with the themes already on the table.
- How to create a survey in Slack
A survey in Simple Poll is one Slack message with several questions behind it. People click the survey's Open button, answer in a pop-up without leaving Slack, and you get the results in the same place. Surveys are a Premium feature, with up to 20 questions each.
- What is a retrospective?
A retrospective is a meeting at the end of a piece of work where the team looks at how it worked, not what it built, and picks changes to try next time. In Scrum it closes every sprint.
- What is survey fatigue?
Survey fatigue is when people are asked for feedback so often, or at such length, that they stop answering or start answering carelessly.