Prioritization Techniques

🎯 Prioritization Techniques: Choosing What Matters Most

Imagine you have a box of toys, but you can only carry a few to the park. How do you pick which ones? That’s prioritization!

🍕 The Pizza Party Problem

Picture this: You’re planning a pizza party with limited money. You want pepperoni, extra cheese, garlic bread, drinks, and a fancy dessert. But your budget says you can’t have everything!

What do you do?

You prioritize—decide what’s most important, what’s nice to have, and what you can skip.

In Agile, teams face this exact problem every sprint. They have:

• Lots of ideas from stakeholders
• Limited time
• Limited people

So they use prioritization techniques to pick the best work to do first.

🏰 The Four Magical Tools

Think of these techniques as four different sorting machines. Each one helps you organize your work in a different way!

graph TD
    A["📋 Too Many Tasks!"] --> B{Which Tool?}
    B --> C["🎯 MoSCoW"]
    B --> D["⚡ WSJF"]
    B --> E["⚖️ Value vs Effort"]
    B --> F["🚨 Risk-Based"]
    C --> G["Sorted by Importance"]
    D --> G
    E --> G
    F --> G

🎯 MoSCoW Method

What Is It?

MoSCoW is a funny-looking word that helps you sort tasks into four buckets.

(The 'o’s just make it easier to say!)

🎂 Birthday Party Example

You’re planning your birthday party:

Without cake, is it really a birthday party? No! That’s why cake is a “Must Have.”

🖥️ Real Software Example

Building a login page:

⚡ Quick Rule

Must = The product breaks without it Should = Users will be unhappy without it Could = Users would smile with it Won’t = Park it for later

⚡ WSJF: Weighted Shortest Job First

What Is It?

WSJF is like a magic calculator that figures out which task gives you the most value for the least effort.

🍪 The Cookie Story

Imagine you sell cookies. You have three customers:

Who do you serve first?

If you serve Carla first (2 minutes for $1), then Anna (5 minutes for $2), you make happy customers faster!

📊 The WSJF Formula

WSJF = Cost of Delay ÷ Job Size

Cost of Delay = How much value we lose by waiting Job Size = How long the work takes

graph TD
    A["Calculate WSJF"] --> B["Cost of Delay"]
    A --> C["Job Size"]
    B --> D["User Value"]
    B --> E["Time Criticality"]
    B --> F["Risk Reduction"]
    D --> G["Add Them Up"]
    E --> G
    F --> G
    G --> H["Divide by Job Size"]
    H --> I["WSJF Score!"]

🎮 Game Example

Winner: Fix the crash bug first! Highest WSJF score.

💡 Why It Works

WSJF says: “Do small, valuable things first. They stack up fast!”

⚖️ Value vs Effort Matrix

What Is It?

A simple 2x2 grid that helps you see which tasks are “quick wins” and which are “time traps.”

graph TD
    subgraph High Value
        A["🎯 Quick Wins<br>Do First!"]
        B["🏆 Big Projects<br>Plan Carefully"]
    end
    subgraph Low Value
        C["🗑️ Time Wasters<br>Avoid!"]
        D["🍬 Fill-Ins<br>Maybe Later"]
    end

📍 The Four Quadrants

🏠 Cleaning Your Room Example

Start with: Make the bed! Quick win.

🔧 Software Example

⭐ Golden Rule

Always hunt for Quick Wins first. They build momentum and make everyone happy!

🚨 Risk-Based Prioritization

What Is It?

Some tasks are ticking time bombs. If you don’t handle them, they can explode and ruin everything!

Risk-based prioritization means: Find the scary stuff and deal with it first.

🌧️ The Umbrella Story

You’re going on a trip. The weather forecast says:

• 90% chance of rain on Day 1
• 10% chance of rain on Day 2

Do you pack your umbrella for Day 1 or Day 2?

Day 1! The risk is higher.

🎲 Understanding Risk

Risk = Probability × Impact

📊 Risk Matrix

🏗️ Building an App Example

🛡️ When to Use Risk-Based Prioritization

Use it when:

• Building something new and uncertain
• Working with third-party services (they might break!)
• Having security concerns
• Facing tight deadlines (no room for surprises)

💡 Key Insight

The best teams don’t wait for problems. They hunt for risks and squash them early!

🎪 Putting It All Together

When to Use Each Technique

🎭 They Work Together!

Many teams combine techniques:

1. Use MoSCoW to filter out the “Won’t Haves”
2. Apply Risk-Based thinking to the “Must Haves”
3. Use Value vs Effort for the “Should/Could Haves”
4. Calculate WSJF for the final sprint order

graph TD
    A["All Ideas"] --> B["MoSCoW Filter"]
    B --> C["Must + Should + Could"]
    C --> D["Risk Check"]
    D --> E["Value vs Effort Grid"]
    E --> F["WSJF Calculation"]
    F --> G["📋 Sprint Backlog"]

✨ You Did It!

You now know four powerful ways to decide what to work on first:

“The art of prioritization is not about doing more—it’s about doing what matters.”

Go forth and prioritize like a pro! 🚀