Channel your inner Leslie Knope or Amy Santiago and grab your favorite post it notes or flash cards.
1. On each card write out everything you have to do this week, seven days.
2. Now lay out all those cards so you’ve got a good view of them all and ask yourself the following questions: what has to get done? What would be nice to do? What has to be done today? As you ask the questions, you probably are rethinking some of those things, right? Do you really need a Target run or would it be great to sip a Starbucks and wander the aisles aimlessly listening to your favorite podcast?
3. Next with those same cards, what if you only had 1 day to get anything done? Can some of those cards wait? Could you get more done in 1 day vs 7?
Congratulations! You’ve just gone through a prioritization exercise! We prioritize everything in our lives, what we do, where we go, which party to attend, which stores to run to for supplies, which chores to do. Why should work be any different?
There are dozens of prioritization methods and measurements out there that you can use. Some are more financial focused, some are business value focused. No matter what method you choose, choose the one that works for you and your team.
Here are some prioritization methods: MoSCoW, Backlog Grooming, WSJF, story mapping, QFD, and so many more. My go to is the MoSCoW method, it’s an acronym broken down in the following way: Must have: these items are must haves for companies, customers must have it in order to sell, use, buy, you name it, it’s in. Should have- these are features or things the product should have to make it more useable, more buyable, etc. these are close follows to should have but in the event of money or budget constraints when something’s gotta give, these sit out. Could have- sure, the coffee maker could have two hot pots for two mugs of coffee, but it’s not absolutely necessary, lower priority or easy backlog candidates. Wont have (also ‘would be nice have’ for POs who like to say gentle nos): strong POs can say no easily, but back it up with metrics, stats, business objectives, levels of effort, etc…, nicer POs can say these items would be nice to have but offer no particular value, as in no one would notice of it wasn’t in there, and few people would use it/like it, even if Bob in sales wants it.
Prioritization is not done in a vacuum, but if you find yourself having to prioritize a series of stories or bugs or projects, consider a method above or try a bunch of different ones that work for you, your team, or your company. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get there, only that you do get prioritized.
Tl;Dr: pick a method that works for you to prioritize your time, your team’s time, and try out MoSCoW, hey it even has it’s own theme song ;).
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