Cut Through the Noise: Effective Prioritisation Strategies for Success
Eliminate the guesswork in prioritisation with proven frameworks that guide your team’s focus and maximise results
Choosing what to focus on is just as important as choosing what not to focus on. But how do you decide where you and your team should focus when everything appears to be important and a priority?
Prioritisation not only highlights what’s essential but also helps eliminate the stress of “missing out” on less critical tasks. Without clear priorities, teams can face constant direction changes, leaving everyone unclear on what truly matters.
MoSCoW
One of my favourite frameworks is MoSCoW. This simple method categorises tasks into four priority levels:
Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have—which is also how it derives its name. What's great about it is that it gets you to categorise features according to necessity.
Must-haves
These are essential features for your product. Failure to have these makes your product incomplete.
Should-haves
These are important features but they are not critical. They should be next in line if resources allow after must-haves have been completed.
Could-haves
These are features that are nice to have but don't have a high impact on the core functionality of the product if left out.
Won't-haves
These are items that have been deprioritised and may be revisited at a later time.
Impact vs Effort Matrix
Impact vs Effort is another excellent method that encourages you to think about features based on their value and complexity. It works by evaluating each task based on its potential value and the effort required to complete it —which can include resources, time, and complexity.
Value can be determined by how close a feature brings you to your goal. For example, if your goal is to increase monthly subscriptions, a feature with the highest likelihood of increasing subscriptions would be considered highly valuable.
Effort can be determined by estimations from the development team. Different teams use different approaches; Some teams use relative measures like t-shirt sizing or Fibonacci sequences for estimations, rather than exact time estimates (a topic I’ll dive into soon)
After determining value and effort, map features on a 2x2 grid to guide prioritisation:
High value, Low effort
These tasks are considered quick wins and should be prioritised immediately.
High value, High effort
Tasks in this category require careful planning. I recommend working on them early in the development sprint while the team is still energised.
Low value, Low effort
You can treat items in this category similar to could-haves in MoSCoW; they can be included if time allows.
Low value, High effort
You may want to avoid items in this category as the offer very little return on investment
Final thoughts
To effectively prioritise your product development efforts, consider utilising frameworks like MoSCoW or the Impact vs. Effort Matrix. These proven methods help align your team on what truly matters, enabling you to deliver high-impact features first.