Prioritize Without Dominance

What this session can decide

Record candidate rankings, ties, unresolved items, and unsuitable items. Before starting, the decision-maker specifies whether this is a final decision or a proposal.

Outside its scope

• Do not assess people, units, or personal attributes.
• Do not substitute for urgent or specialist decisions.
• Do not force unanimity.

Primary caution: Do not assess people, units, or personal attributes.

Before starting

Question and scope

Present individual evidence first, rank candidates by common criteria, and retain review conditions for candidates not yet decided. Before starting, state the subject and time period in one sentence.

What this session decides

Record candidate rankings, ties, unresolved items, and unsuitable items. Before starting, the decision-maker specifies whether this is a final decision or a proposal.

Output recipient

The Recorder stores the final review table for candidates not yet decided, tracking reasons for deferral, information needed, owners, and review dates.

Participation and information boundaries

Explain the choices to pass, take a break, or leave. Keep personal information, confidential information, and attribute-based evaluation off the record surface. Assign Participant support separately.

Operating roles

Assign Lead facilitator, Recorder, Timekeeper, and Participant support before starting, and confirm who announces switching and stopping.

Next review

Set a review date, viewers, and the person responsible for the next decision on the review table for candidates not yet decided.

Who takes responsibility

Lead facilitator

Keep Prioritize Without Dominance within its purpose and exclusions, and announce the start and end of each stage.

From before the start through the end

Recorder

Record the numbered list of candidates and evidence, ranking record, and review table for candidates not yet decided at each stage, then hand them to the recipient at the end.

From preparing record surfaces before the start through storage after the end

Timekeeper

Notify the Lead facilitator 3 minutes before each stage ends and when switching to breaks or buffer time.

At the start of every stage and 3 minutes before its end

Participant support

Receive requests to pass, take a break, leave, or check individually, and decide with the Lead facilitator whether resumption is possible.

From before the start through the end

Session flow

Minutes are measured from the session start. Method time, transition time, breaks and buffer are shown separately; they are not additional overlapping activities.

1. 0–23 minutes

   Present evidence without being influenced by speaking order

   Method: Silent Brainstorming / Brainwriting · 0–20 minutes. Transition: 20–23 minutes (3 minutes).

   Silently write candidates and evidence for the common question, one item at a time. Read others' contributions and add to them, then number a list with duplicates bundled.

   Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support

   Output: Numbered list of candidates and evidence

   Handoff: Before ranking begins, check that there are at most 12 candidates. If within the limit, give each small group the numbered list and a set of cards with matching numbers. If over the limit, do not delete candidates without authorisation and do not rank them. Keep every candidate unresolved on the original list and pass them to the stage for setting review conditions.

   This stage may be shortened only in accordance with the stated conditions.

2. 23–46 minutes

   Order candidates by common criteria

   Method: Ranking · 23–43 minutes. Transition: 43–46 minutes (3 minutes).

   Before ranking begins, check that there are at most 12 candidates. If over the limit, do not delete candidates without authorisation and do not rank them. Keep every candidate unresolved on the original list. Use the time scheduled for ranking to check the reasons for leaving them unresolved and the record of every candidate; do not bring the next stage forward. Set review conditions in the next stage. If within the limit, each small group creates a provisional order using identically numbered cards and one criterion. Fix candidates whose relative order agrees across all groups. If even one group differs, check once with the whole group; if disagreement remains, mark a tie or leave the item unresolved. The existing Recorder records each group's ranking and the consolidated result.

   Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support

   Output: Ranking record

   Handoff: The existing Recorder records and displays each group's ranking and the whole-group consolidated record, then passes candidates not yet decided to the next stage. If ranking was not carried out because there were more than 12 candidates, pass the reason and every candidate as unresolved.

   This stage is not marked as shortenable.

3. 46–79 minutes

   Set review conditions for candidates not yet decided

   Method: Decision Debt Ledger · 46–76 minutes. Transition: 76–79 minutes (3 minutes).

   Move only candidates not yet decided to the tracking table and write losses while waiting and information needed. Categorise each as Decide, Wait, or Withdraw, and add an owner and review date to waiting items.

   Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support

   Output: Review table for candidates not yet decided

   Handoff: The Recorder gives the review table to each candidate's owner and saves it in the designated location.

   This stage is not marked as shortenable.

What is retained and who receives it

Materials and setup

Material names, quantities, groups and handling instructions retain the fixed draft's original helper-derived guidance. Where a format is marked “Source material specification”, the entire bound English source material entry takes precedence over the old helper-derived format guidance. This format-only correction does not resolve other instruction or safety concerns. English names are not substituted into a Japanese-keyed lookup.

Setup for each method

When to switch or stop

Fallbacks

There are more than 20 candidates at the 15-minute mark.

Bundle duplicates only, then have each person mark one item they consider important. Do not exclude candidates based on whether they were marked. Before ranking begins, check that there are at most 12 candidates. If over the limit, do not rank them; retain every candidate as unresolved for the next review.

Method guide: Silent Brainstorming / Brainwriting

Stop conditions

A change of criteria is proposed after ranking starts.

Stop the work, record the change, and return all cards to an unordered state.

Candidates contain personal appraisal, attribute-based appraisal, or confidential information.

Turn the cards face down and collect them, stop copying and reading them aloud, and store or dispose of them safely.

Sources, rights and limits

This site has composed this programme's purpose, connections between methods, facilitation, roles, outputs, and switching conditions. See each method's individual page for its sources and licence.

Original source records and their required notices are retained below. Their presence does not mean a new legal or cultural-safety clearance. Original citation titles are kept in their source language.

Japanese resources and historical source records

Original Japanese plan and its print view · Japanese operation pack or starter materials

An English print edition is not provided here. The linked plans, print views and operation materials are Japanese resources.

Historical recorded publication holds

The following original hold statements are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. They are not a statement of current acceptance, nor does this historical label resolve a source-specific restriction.

• English translation and rendered-page independent acceptance pending
• Method dependency source/text SHA binding and current source-specific rights verification pending
• Publication not cleared