Are the items that received equal votes really equal? Is idea A equally feasible to idea B even though they received the same number of votes? Why or why not?.Some questions to ask the team may include: Once everything is placed onto the chart, it’s time to discuss the results and compare where items fell. These votes should be educated opinions, so time to research or investigate prior to voting may be needed.Īn example matrix after items have been placed based on votes 4. Members are allowed to place multiple votes on one item.

Team members then silently vote on items. impact on the user, developers may have green dots and rank feasibility, while designers may have orange dots that represent impact on the user. For example, on a matrix plotting feasibility vs. Use different colors for different areas of expertise. While each team member gets the same number of votes, they should vote based only on criteria that fall within their domain of expertise. A general rule of thumb is the number of votes per person is half the number of items being prioritized. Individually vote based on expertiseĭisperse different colored dots to each team member. Or, it could be made of actual numbers (if you were plotting the percentage of users, the scale could range from 0 to 100). The scale can be as simple as high or low (if your criteria are feasibility’ or impact on the user, for example). Once you have the items and criteria, develop the scale. Regardless of what items you are prioritizing, the criteria should always be derived from the overall goals of the project and business needs. For prioritizing personas, they could be percentage of user base and ROI. For prioritizing different ideas, the criteria could be impact on the user or feasibility. Next, you’ll define the criteria according to which you’ll perform the prioritization. First, establish the items you are prioritizing and write them on individual sticky notes. There are three initial steps to creating a prioritization chart. Establish the items, criteria, and scale you will use Creating a Basic Prioritization Matrix 1.

In UX, we can use a similar method to collaboratively weigh options and make informed decisions that balance our time and resources with the needs of the user. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.' With this method, activities are allotted to one of four quadrants: important/urgent, important/not urgent, unimportant/urgent, and unimportant/not urgent.Īnother popular tool used in science and math is a decision matrix that allows numerous options to be systematically ranked according to some criteria. Eisenhower: 'I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. Many time-management matrices are based on the Eisenhower Method, which stems from a quote attributed to Dwight D.

Prioritization charts have been used for decades in many different fields, in many different ways. For the sake of consistency, we use the same term although sometimes our “matrices” would be more accurately described as “charts.” Though the manifestation of each may slightly differ, all forms help teams visualize and communicate priorities. The term “prioritization matrix” is used in the design thinking community to refer to a variety of prioritization techniques and representations, that, technically, do not all qualify as matrices in the mathematical sense.

A prioritization matrix indicating value to the user and effort by an organization.

Benefits of priority matrix