What are prioritization frameworks?
Prioritization frameworks are systematic approaches used to evaluate and rank tasks, projects, or goals to determine their relative importance and urgency. These frameworks help organizations, teams and individuals allocate their resources, time, and effort effectively, ensuring that the most critical and valuable activities are addressed first.
What are the benefits of using prioritization frameworks?
Through visualization and clear structure prioritization frameworks provide an overview and structure for decision-making. This makes it easy to determine what needs immediate attention, and can support more effective resource allocation. Prioritization frameworks can help organizations, teams, and individuals focus on what truly matters, improving productivity and achieving goals faster.
Examples of prioritization frameworks
1. MoSCoW Method
- X-Axis: Must Have
- Y-Axis: Should Have
- Circle Size: Could Have
2. RICE Scoring Model
- X-Axis: Reach (how many people will be affected)
- Y-Axis: Impact (how much it will affect them)
- Circle Size: Effort (resources required)
3. ICE Scoring Model
- X-Axis: Impact
- Y-Axis: Confidence (certainty in the impact)
- Circle Size: Ease (ease of implementation)
4. Value vs. Complexity
- X-Axis: Value (benefit to the customer or business)
- Y-Axis: Complexity (difficulty or effort required)
- Circle Size: Risk (potential risks involved)
5. Kano Model
- X-Axis: Basic Needs (must-haves)
- Y-Axis: Performance Needs (wants)
- Circle Size: Excitement Needs (delighters)
6. Opportunity Scoring
- X-Axis: Importance (to users)
- Y-Axis: Satisfaction (current satisfaction level)
- Circle Size: Effort (to improve satisfaction)
7. Buy a Feature
- X-Axis: Customer Votes (popularity)
- Y-Axis: Business Value
- Circle Size: Cost (to implement)
8. Cost of Delay Divided by Duration (CD3)
- X-Axis: Cost of Delay
- Y-Axis: Duration (time to implement)
- Circle Size: Value (business value)
9. Eisenhower Matrix
- X-Axis: Urgency
- Y-Axis: Importance
- Circle Size: Effort (to complete)
10. Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
- X-Axis: Cost of Delay
- Y-Axis: Job Size (or duration)
- Circle Size: Value (business value)
11. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule): get 80% of results with 20% of the work
How do I choose the right prioritization framework for my use case?
- Factors to Consider: Discuss the factors that influence the choice of a prioritization framework (e.g., context, goals, resources).
- Comparison: Provide a brief comparison of the mentioned frameworks.
- Recommendations: Offer guidance on how to choose the most suitable framework for different scenarios.
How can prioritization frameworks benefit my journey map in Smaply?
To use prioritization frameworks with Smaply, identify key touchpoints or pain points on the map and score them against criteria like customer impact, strategic alignment, and effort using a weighted scoring system or an Impact-Effort Matrix. This allows you to objectively determine which moments or Opportunities in the customer's journey to focus on first, ensuring efforts are aligned with business goals and customer needs.
Steps to Integrate Prioritization Frameworks into Journey Maps
Map the customer journey:
Create a comprehensive journey map that outlines the stages, touchpoints, and emotions of the customer experience, learn the basics of journey mapping here.
Identify opportunities:
Within the journey map, pinpoint specific pain points, bottlenecks, or moments of high impact where improvements can significantly enhance the customer experience.
When an opportunity, pain point, or solution card is added to a journey map in Smaply, it is entered into a database which allows you to connect the same card to another map. These cards can be viewed on a single framework so teams can evaluate them in relation to each other.
While Smaply provides a standardized framework for each of the card types, our Governance plan allows you to change these labels so that you can choose the framework that works best for your organization. For example, Smaply’s Opportunities will default to a simple “Impact, Feasibility, Potential” Framework, but you can change these labels to reflect any framework you choose, including custom labels that may be unique to your organization.
3. Define prioritization criteria:
Brainstorm a set of criteria that align with your strategic goals. Common criteria include:
- Customer impact: How much will this improve the customer experience or loyalty?
- Strategic alignment: How well does this opportunity support your company's overall objectives?
- Effort/Feasibility: How much time, resources, and complexity are required to implement a solution?
- Revenue/Retention: Will this improve customer retention or drive revenue?
- Risk reduction: Does this address a critical operational risk or compliance issue?
4. Choose a framework:
Select a framework that best suits your needs. There is a wide number of prioritization frameworks, which one suits is individual to your use case. Refer to #Examples of Prioritization frameworks and #How do I choose the right prioritization framework for my use case? to get an idea of the various frameworks.
5. Apply the framework to journey map elements:
Score the identified Opportunities on your journey map using your chosen framework and criteria.
6. Prioritize and plan:
Use the scores to rank the opportunities. This helps you make informed decisions on which areas of the customer journey to focus on for deep analysis, solutioning, and action.
7. Validate and iterate:
Validate your prioritized list with user feedback and diverse stakeholder input to ensure your assumptions are correct. Refine your priorities based on new insights.
Conclusion
Effective prioritization ensures that your team directs its energy toward the initiatives that deliver the greatest impact, rather than getting lost in endless tasks. Prioritization frameworks provide the structure and clarity needed to make those decisions with confidence, helping you align efforts with strategy, customer needs, and available resources.
By adopting the right framework, you can cut through complexity, focus on what truly matters, and create a shared understanding across teams. Whether you choose a simple matrix or a more sophisticated scoring model, these tools empower you to move from guesswork to data-driven decision-making. When integrated with journey mapping in Smaply, they not only highlight opportunities for improvement but also ensure that your investments in customer experience directly support business growth.
Ultimately, effective prioritization is the bridge between ideas and results. With the right frameworks in place, your organization can act with clarity, accelerate progress, and set the stage for long-term success.
