Nominal group technique

Use when

• A group must generate and prioritise options in one session.
• One or two people usually dominate the discussion.
• You want Delphi“s anti-anchoring effect without Delphi”s timescale.

Do not use when

• The group is two or three people, where the structure is heavier than the problem.
• The task needs genuine building on each other’s ideas — the silent phase prevents exactly that.

Inputs required

• One clear question
• A facilitator
• 60 to 90 minutes in one room

Procedure

1. 01

   State the question and go silent

   Everyone writes their own answers alone, for five to ten minutes. No discussion. This phase is the whole method.

2. 02

   Round-robin without comment

   Each person contributes one item in turn, recorded verbatim. No evaluation, no discussion, no “that”s the same as'. Continue until everyone passes.

3. 03

   Clarify only

   Now discuss, but only to understand what each item means. Merge duplicates only when the author agrees they are duplicates.

4. 04

   Rank privately

   Each person ranks their top five on paper. Private ranking is what stops the discussion from being re-run as a vote.

5. 05

   Aggregate and show the spread

   Sum the ranks. Show the totals and the disagreement. A high-variance item that two people ranked first is a different finding from one everyone ranked third.