Principle
Separate generation, clarification and ranking
Do not make an idea win the moment it is born.
When it fits
- Ideas are being judged as soon as they appear, causing the group to converge before the option space is visible.
When to avoid it
- Separation is a process aid, not a reason to preserve obviously unsafe or out-of-scope options.
Why it matters
Use distinct phases: generate options, clarify what each means, then rank or select against explicit criteria. During generation, capture without debate. During clarification, resolve meaning without selling. During ranking, allow preferences to become visible.
An example
A team first writes possible release strategies, then clarifies dependencies, then scores only after the criteria are fixed.
Check your result
No idea is discarded during generation merely because the first speaker dislikes it.
Keep this limit in mind
- Separation is a process aid, not a reason to preserve obviously unsafe or out-of-scope options.
Connected ideas
Useful withUse a nominal round before the vote
Evidence and sources
Supports
Nominal Group Technique commonly separates individual idea generation, sharing, clarification and prioritization or ranking.
NGT structures participation and prioritization; consensus is not evidence that the selected idea is correct.
How to use the nominal group and Delphi techniques · Method overview