HKSM

A facilitation method that extends brainstorming by adding a structured voting step to score and rank ideas, helping the group identify the most valuable items for deeper discussion or prioritization.

Key Points

• Typical flow: silent idea generation, round-robin sharing, clarification without debate, then independent voting to rank ideas.
• Reduces dominance and groupthink by giving each participant an equal voice; voting can be anonymous.
• Produces a prioritized list to guide next steps, such as deeper analysis or selection.
• Useful for requirements, risk response selection, decision making, and backlog prioritization in time-boxed workshops.

Example

During a requirements workshop, the team brainstorms features for a new customer portal. After listing and clarifying all ideas, each participant privately assigns scores to the features. The facilitator tallies the scores to create a ranked list, and the top items are scheduled for detailed elaboration.

PMP Example Question

In a facilitated session, the team generates many improvement ideas. The project manager then asks members to privately score each idea, and the aggregated scores produce a ranked shortlist for further discussion. What technique is being used?

1. Brainstorming
2. Delphi technique
3. Nominal Group Technique
4. Affinity diagram

Correct Answer: C - Nominal Group Technique

Explanation: NGT augments brainstorming with structured voting to rank ideas for prioritization.