The $100 test
The $100 test is a lighthearted forced ranking activity that uses fictional money as a voting tool. It allows you to introduce fun into the ranking process and keep participants engaged.
To conduct this activity, you'll need a list of ideas you want to prioritize. Each participant gets $100 — either imaginary or in some tokens — to "invest" in ideas they support. The money can be spent all at once, or it can be spread, in small amounts, over several ideas. To round up:
- Write down the ideas people invested in on a flip chart or a whiteboard
- Put the investments ($) in a second column next to the ideas
- If available, add each investor’s rationale for their investment in a third column
- Discuss within the group which ideas are the most valuable and interesting enough to explore further[1]
Pro Tip: If you have difficulty defining the top 3-8 ideas, your shortlist is too long. Give participants another $100 to "invest" in the ideas on the list with the condition to spend it as one $50-bill and two $25-bills.
