Prioritisation Frameworks for Product Managers

As a product manager, you often face the challenge of prioritizing tasks, features, and projects to achieve your product goals efficiently. Several prioritization frameworks can help you make informed decisions based on factors such as user needs, business impact, and resource constraints. Here are five popular prioritization frameworks used by product managers:

MoSCoW Method:

This framework categorizes requirements into four priority levels: Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won’t have. It helps you focus on the most critical features (Must-haves) while deprioritizing or deferring less important ones (Could have or Won’t have).

Kano Model:

The Kano Model assesses features based on customer satisfaction and the level of effort required for implementation. It classifies features into five categories: Must-be (expected), One-dimensional (performance-based), Attractive (delighters), Indifferent (no impact), and Reverse (disliked). This framework helps you identify which features will have the most significant impact on customer satisfaction.

Weighted Scoring:

In this framework, you assign weights to different criteria, such as customer value, business value, technical feasibility, or effort required. Each criterion is scored individually for each feature or project, and the weighted scores are summed to determine prioritization. This approach brings objectivity to the decision-making process by considering multiple factors.

RICE Model:

RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. Each feature or project is scored based on these four factors. Reach measures the number of users impacted, Impact quantifies the benefit, Confidence reflects the level of certainty, and Effort estimates the resources required. Multiplying these scores provides a ranking that helps prioritize initiatives with the highest potential impact.

Value vs. Effort Matrix:

This matrix plot features or projects based on their perceived value (e.g., customer value or business value) and the effort required for implementation. This visual representation helps you identify quick wins (high value, low effort), long-term investments (high value, high effort), low-priority items (low value, low effort), and items to avoid (low value, high effort).

Remember that these frameworks provide guidance, but ultimately the choice of prioritization framework depends on your specific product, organization, and goals. You may need to adapt or combine these frameworks to fit your context and make the most informed decisions.