Why You Should Avoid Prioritization Frameworks and How To Do It Right

Prioritize based on objectives and strategy, not spreadsheets and formulas

It all works like magic; and if you have a nice spreadsheet, you can score hundreds of features in very little time. Sounds fool proof right?

Don’t prioritize features

Why do you have so many features to prioritize?

The frameworks often work on guesstimates

  1. These are not ratio scale numbers that can be put into an equation
  2. What’s missing in those subjective assessments is the margin of error (MoE) associated with each factor. And there is nowhere in the calculation that includes that.
Rice Score = (Reach times impact times Confidence) divided by Effort
  • 1.0 = high confidence
  • 0.7 = medium confidence
  • 0.5 = low confidence

You cannot turn approximates into absolutes just by ignoring the uncertainty.

They promote bottom-up prioritization

Layered diagram. Top to bottom: Layer 1 — Business Vision, Objectives, Strategy. Layer 2 - Product Vision. Layer 3 — Product Objectives. Layer 4 — Product Strategy. Layer 5 — Product Roadmap. Layer 6. Product Plans. Arrow down the side. Top to Bottom saying Constraint/Focus

One exception

A little feedback please

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Product Consultant. Contact me for help in building great products, processes and people. http://www.transformationlabs.io

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Saeed Khan

Product Consultant. Contact me for help in building great products, processes and people. http://www.transformationlabs.io