Example polls
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Ranked poll. A staffing decision with four contenders, closing in two days so the result is fixed.
/poll "Which project should we staff next quarter?" "Billing rewrite" "Offline mode" "Search upgrade" "Audit log" ranked close after 2 days
Premium: closing automatically
Close automatically: after 2 days
Ranked poll. An anonymous ranking with three options, closed by hand when everyone has voted.
/poll "Rank the offsite cities" "Lisbon" "Berlin" "Barcelona" ranked anonymous
Free
Anonymous
Ranked poll. A follow-up vote on the top retro suggestions.
/poll "What should we try first next sprint?" "Shorter standups" "No-meeting Wednesdays" "Demo every Friday" ranked close after 1 day
Premium: closing automatically
Close automatically: after 1 day
How Simple Poll counts a ranked poll
Simple Poll calculates rankings with instant-runoff voting:
- Everyone ranks the options in order of preference.
- If one option has a majority of #1 rankings, it wins.
- If not, the option with the fewest #1 rankings is eliminated. Voters who ranked it first now count for their #2 choice.
- Rounds continue until one option has a majority.
So a voter can rank a long shot first without wasting their vote: if it's eliminated, their next choice counts.
When to use it
Use a ranked poll when there are three or more real options and a split first-choice vote could hand the win to something most people don't want: picking a project to staff, a name, an offsite city, which retro action to try first.
With two options it adds nothing; use a normal poll. If you need to know what people find acceptable rather than their order of preference, approval voting is simpler for voters.
Running one in Slack
Add ranked to the /poll text. A ranked poll needs options. Keep it to a handful:
ordering ten things is a chore, and the bottom of each ballot gets guessed.
Voters see the results only once the poll closes, so give it an end with close after
(Premium) or close it yourself. In a survey, a ranked question can't be optional.
Questions
Does Simple Poll use instant-runoff for ranked polls?
Yes. The help centre article on ranked polls describes the rounds: a majority of #1 votes wins, otherwise the option with the fewest #1 votes is eliminated and those votes move to each voter's next choice.
Why can't voters see results while a ranked poll is open?
Ranked poll results show once the poll closes. Close it with close after (Premium) or by
hand from the poll's Open button, under Poll settings.
Is ranked-choice voting the same as a points system?
No. A points system (a Borda count) gives each option points by position and adds them up. Instant-runoff eliminates options round by round until one has a majority.
Related
- How to create a ranked choice poll in Slack
In a ranked choice poll, each person puts the options in order of preference instead of picking one. Simple Poll counts the result with instant-runoff voting, so the winner is the option with the broadest support, not just the most first choices. Ranked polls work on every plan.
- Feature prioritization poll for Slack
When you have more candidate features than capacity and need the team, or your stakeholders, to put them in order.
- What is plurality voting?
Plurality voting gives each voter one vote, and the option with the most votes wins, even if it has less than half of them. In single-winner elections it is also called first-past-the-post.
- What is approval voting?
Approval voting lets each voter pick every option they find acceptable, as many as they like. The option with the most approvals wins.