07/04/2023

Guide to
Product
Prioritization
 If you’ve transitioned to Product from another
discipline, you might already think you know how
to do it. You choose which task to work on first,
which deadline needs to be met above all others,
and which order to answer your emails in.

BY REALLYGREATSITE CLIENT: WARNER & SPENCER

Priorities, right?
WRONG!
Introduction
The engineers are telling you that Feature A will be
really cool and will take you to the next level. But a
A
key stakeholder is gently suggesting that Feature B
should be included in V1. Finally, your data analyst B

is convinced that Feature B is completely

C
unnecessary and that users are crying out for
Feature C.
Who decides how
to prioritize the
features?

YOU DO!
01. 02. 03.

The benefits and The best prioritization How real Product

challenges of frameworks and Leaders implement
prioritization when to use them prioritization at
Microsoft, Amazon,
and HSBC
Benefits and
challenges of
prioritization
Benefits

Enhanced focus on Improved

key objectives decision-making

Resource Strategic
optimization Stress reduction focus
Challenges

Managing stakeholder Adapting to changing

expectations market conditions

Dealing with limited

information Limited resources

Bias Lack of alignment

Prioritization
Frameworks
 There are a lot of prioritization models for PMs
to employ. While it’s great to have so many tools
at your disposal, it can also be a bit
overwhelming. You might even ask yourself
which prioritization framework you should…
prioritize.
The MoSCoW Method
MUST HAVE SHOULD HAVE

Absolutely vital High priority features

15%
requirements
23%

COULD HAVE WON’T HAVE

35%
Possible optional What will not be 27%
features implemented
 MoSCoW Analysis
Collaboration no-code
templates to work on
Ability to invite team
typical job stories
members to the shared
workspace + collaborate
Password recovery
for platform
MUST SHOULD

COULD WILL NOT

Slack and
Microsoft Teams
integrations 100+ very urgent
Asana, JIRA, requests from the other
Trello, Monday teams :)
integrations
RICE Scoring

Reach Impact

Confidence Effort
 Calculating a RICE score

Now you should have four numbers representing each of the 4 categories. To calculate
your score, multiply Reach, Impact, and Confidence. Then divide by Effort.
 Impact–Effort Matrix

If we clean + redesign If we optimize webpage

clients' dashboard, we'll content & design to
get trials registration match Google Ads, we'll
without sales calls increase conversion 3x

BIG BETS QUICK WINS

MONEY PIT FILL-INS

If we add localization If we redesign the

for all landings + main animation on header
product, we'll get better we'll have a consistent
usage metrics design & better UX
Kano Model
Delighters Performance Basic features
features
The features that customers The minimum expected by
will perceive as going above customers to solve their
and beyond their expectations. problems. Without these, the
These are the things that will Customers respond well to product is of little use to them.
differentiate you from your high investments in
competition. performance features.
Weighted Scoring
Prioritization
The process starts by selecting the criteria/categories you’ll
be using to rate the features. For example, you might
select “user experience”, “sales value”, “strategic impact”,
“user adoption” or any of the Acquisition, Activation,
Retention, Referral, Revenue (AARRR) metrics.

Next, you need to decide what importance you give to

each category, adding a percentage value to each criterion
(up to 100%). For example, during the early stages, you
might focus on UX features that make an MVP usable.
Each feature will have a score in those categories, from 1
(min impact) – 100 (max impact). Then you can now
calculate the final score for each feature.
Cost of Delay
Estimated revenue per unit of time, for
example, how much could be billed over a
month-long period if the feature existed.

Estimated time it will take to complete

the development of the feature.

Divide the estimated revenue by the

estimated time to give you the cost of
delay.
Product Tree
Leaves

Branches
Trunk

Roots
 Roots: Represent the core technologies, systems, and capabilities that support and enable the
product's basic functions. These are fundamental aspects without which the product cannot
function.

Trunk: Symbolizes the product's main functionalities or the current set of features. It is the stable
and established part of the product that supports further growth.

Branches: Illustrate different areas of the product that can grow and expand, such as new feature
sets, product lines, or major enhancements.

Leaves: Stand for specific features, ideas, or small enhancements that can be added to the product.
These are often more visible to the end-users and can directly contribute to user satisfaction and
product value.
Which model
should I use?

ANY! Knowing which prioritization

framework to use is tough!

All you can do is test, test,

and test again!
How to prioritize
individual tasks:
Tips from busy product leaders
Applying the Eisenhower Matrix to
a busy inbox

Microsoft Product Manager Anusha

Bahtnagar, uses a prioritization technique
called The Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize
what comes into her inbox. As a Product
Manager working with cross-continental
teams, it’s common to wake up to a full inbox.
"Our gut instinct when we get an email
from someone higher up is to drop
everything we're working on and focus
solely on that. But this might not be the
best for our prioritization!"

Anusha Bahtnagar, Product Manager at Microsoft

Making customer-focused prioritization decisions

Asal Elleuch, a Senior Product Manager

for Amazon Prime, calls prioritization

“a never-ending and
iterative process.”
The art of making impossible product decisions

01 02 03 04

Know the Understand the Consider the Arrange the

context need execution sequence
Common Product
Prioritization
Mistakes
 RECENCY BIAS
NO AGREED-UPON OVER-COMPLICATING THE
SCORING GUIDE PROCESS

It’s human nature to favor

shiny new ideas (a.k.a. recency Sometimes product teams
What does an impact score of
bias), old items tend to get spend months debating the
“5” mean? A 1% growth or 10%?
forgotten for no good reason. relative value between small
In conversion rate or MRR? Do
features when they could have
other teammates think the
shipped them all in the time
same?
lost.

01 03 05

02 04 06

MIXING DISCOVERY AND

NOT CONSIDERING NOT ITERATING THE
DELIVERY
CONSTRAINTS PRIORITIZATION SYSTEM

Just because something works

Software development isn’t the Besides the core value-vs-cost today doesn’t mean it’ll
only thing that takes time when consideration, there are also continue to work as the
building a product. So do dependencies, deadlines, skill company scales
problem analysis and solution fit, strategic fit, and other
design, commonly referred to constraints that influence your
together as product discovery. prioritization decisions.
 Develop a shared scoring guide for your prioritization
1
criteria.

How to Divide your product development into discovery and

Fix?
2
delivery, and prioritize the two backlogs separately.

You must constantly review old items to correctly prioritize

3
the backlog.

Define a set of rules to work with these constraints, and

4
make them part of your prioritization system.

Timebox your prioritization discussion. If your team gets

5
stuck comparing initiatives, introduce a tie-breaker rule.

Treat your prioritization system (and other internal

6
processes) like your product.
 Thank You!

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BY REALLYGREATSITE CLIENT: WARNER & SPENCER