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Problem Prioritization

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A simple and easy way to understand the Value and Effort concept is to visualize it on 2x2 matrix.

2x2 matrix of Lean prioritization helps in decision making and identifying what is important or risky and where to direct the efforts. This matrix is usually associated with the classic Eisenhower matrix.

All you need is to draw a large “plus” sign on a whiteboard and mark “Value” and “Effort” along the vertical and horizontal axes or use any powerful product management tool with a built-in framework based on the matrix.

Lean Prioritization

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More Value to Business

Less Value to Business

Low Efforts

High Efforts

The 2×2 :

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Value and Effort concept

Value shows which business value the feature can bring to your product or your business

Effort measures the resources needed to complete the task

The main idea of Value and Effort prioritization

Top Left – The “why aren’t you doing this now?” quadrant : Features in this quadrant offer the best value for customers with minimal effort. These are the low-hanging fruit that should be worked on immediately

Comparing the Value and Effort combination helps to prioritize tasks better and choose the most important ones for development:

The 2×2 has four distinct quadrants:

Top Right – The “Breakdown” quadrant : Features here offer high value but require significant effort to get in front of your customers. Try to breakdown these features into smaller, bite-sized features and re-map them against other features in the 2×2.

Bottom Left – The “Friday afternoon” quadrant : Features offer lower value for customers but are easy to implement. These are great fillers which can be slotted in as and when there are small amounts of downtime, or between larger features. It’s also a great way to ensure continued momentum.

Bottom Right – The “Don’t even think about it (yet)” quadrant : Whilst still offering some value to the customer these shouldn’t be prioritised at this point in time. These items are likely to require significant effort to deliver and offer lower value to the customer than other items in your backlog.

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