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A Prioritization Tool
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Under the Hood

About the Prioritization Model

There are many prioritization models out there, so I’m not claiming to reinvent the wheel here. Over the years I have tried many methods from the simple daily list to a complex matrix with intricate data-driven dimensions. There is a time and place for each of these approaches, but for the purpose of understanding what to work on next, a simple impact/effort matrix will suffice.
The main dimensions are:
What is the approximate Impact (or cost) to the company if this does not get done? This can be simplified to internal-only impact, impact to customers (who likely pay for your product/service) or both.
How much approximate effort will this require to complete? This can be generalized to 1-person, multi-person (possibly cross functional), or multi-team multi-functional.

Here’s what that looks like when we map impact and effort to priority:
Priority Matrix
Impact
Effort
1-Person
3
Multi-Person
3
Multi-person, Multi-Functional
3
Priority
Priority
Priority
Customer & Internal Impact
3
Very High
High
Medium
Customer Impact
3
High
Medium
Low
Internal Impact
3
Medium
Low
Very Low
⁠
Because estimation is hard and requires practice, I have added another column to record the actual effort and impact (once the task is done) so you can continue to hone your estimation skills.
⁠
This is the table used by the Coda automation - if you want to customize your values, you can do it here:
Priority Table (referenced by Coda automation)
Impact
Effort
Priority
Customer & Internal Impact
1-Person
Very High
Customer Impact
1-Person
High
Internal Impact
1-Person
Medium
Customer & Internal Impact
Multi-Person
High
Customer Impact
Multi-Person
Medium
Internal Impact
Multi-Person
Low
Customer & Internal Impact
Multi-person, Multi-Functional
Medium
Customer Impact
Multi-person, Multi-Functional
Low
Internal Impact
Multi-person, Multi-Functional
Very Low
There are no rows in this table
⁠

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