Q 465. Explain 2X2 matrices that are used for prioritizing action items. Which of these happens to be your favorite and why?

 

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2X2 prioritization matrix is assignment of priority on the basis of two qualifying criterions. The data values representing high and lows state of two decision criteria are represented along each axis. The priority for an activity is decided on the location of activity in four resultant quadrants. The sequence of implementation is finalized, as per information clues generated by activity location in “four blocker or magic quadrant”.  

 

2X2 prioritization matrices have been plotted using following set of decision pairs:

1.       Urgency and Importance.

2.       Value vs Risk.

3.       Value vs Effort.

4.       Customer Satisfaction vs level of satisfaction

 

Eisenhower Matrix

The earliest 2X2 prioritization matrix used in decision making, is Eisenhower Matrix or Urgency and Importance matrix introduced by former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

 

In Eisenhower Matrix, the activities under consideration are listed into four quadrants, on basis of two selection parameters—

a.       Urgency assigned values as “urgent” or “not urgent” and

b.       Importance assigned values as “important” and “not important”

 

The activities under consideration are then labelled as:

“Do Now”-urgent and important activities,

“Do Next”-not urgent and important activities,

“Delegate”-urgent and unimportant activities,

“Don’t DO”-not urgent and unimportant activities.

   

Important	"Do Next or Prioritize"	"Do Now or Implement"
Unimportant	"Delete or Avoid"	"Delegate"
	Not Urgent	Urgent

 

Eisenhower Matrix Urgency & Importance Matrix

                                   

Value vs Risk 2X2 prioritization matrix

Value vs Risk 2X2 prioritization matrix uses Value and Risk as qualifying parameters on two axes of plot. The instances of high and low magnitude of value and risk inherent in project/new offering are sub-plotted into following four quadrants:

a.       High value, low risk.

b.       Low value, low risk.

c.       High value, high risk

d.       low value, high risk.

 

A new project or new offering product or service, is evaluated on value generation potential and inherent risk. A project owner would be more interested in avoiding high risk category tasks, that require more investment of money, resource abundance and service provider time.

 

High Risk	"Avoid"	"Do First"
Low Risk	"Do Last"	"Do Second"
	Low Value	High Value

 

Value and Risk Matrix

Project manager and Business owner may want to focus last on low-value and high-risk activities, after they develop adequate capabilities to address operational challenges.

 

Value vs Effort 2X2 prioritization matrix

Value vs Effort 2X2 prioritization matrix uses Value and Effort as selection parameter.

The teams are asked to provide estimate of revenue potential and, also share estimate of time required to build new product or service offering i.e., time to build.

 

The resultant outcomes are listed into four quadrants as:

 

a.       High value & high effort or Big Bets—the activities that are tend to assure higher value, however have a significant cost attached.

b.       High value & low effort or Quick Wins—the activities that provides better rewards with little effort.

c.       Low value & low effort or Maybes—Fill ins —the activities that add small value at little cost, however is considered non-essential to maximizing a product’s value.

d.       & Low value & high effort or Time Sinks —the activities that can be difficult, and generate little return value after too much investment of money, time and effort.

 

High Effort	"Time Sinks"	"Big Bets"
Low Effort	“Maybes--Fill-In”	"Quick Wins"
	Low Value	High Value

 

Value vs Effort Matrix

 

Kano Model

Kano model is a theoretical model on “product development and customer satisfaction “developed by Professor Noriaki Kano in 1980’s. Two selection variables “customer satisfaction” categorized as "customer satisfaction" and "customer dissatisfaction" & “level of satisfaction” categorized as “fully satisfied” and “not fully satisfied”.

 

The data variables are plotted on chart axis, to represent five categories of customer satisfaction used to prioritizing features on a product roadmap.

 

1.    Must-be Quality- minimum level sophistications product or service must sustain to enter commercial market.

2.    One-dimensional Quality- the product and service attributes that result in satisfaction when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. 

3.    Attractive Quality- the product and service attributes that provide satisfaction when achieved fully, however do-not generate dissatisfaction, if left fulfilled. 

4.    Indifferent Quality- the product and service attributes that are neither good nor bad, and absence of these attributes does not lead to either customer satisfaction or customer dissatisfaction.

5.    Reverse Quality- the product and service attributes that cause a high degree of achievement, resulting in dissatisfaction. The reverse quality function is indicative that not all customers are alike.

 

Preference for Value vs Effort 2X2 prioritization matrix

1.       Value vs Effort is a better 2X2 prioritization matrix, since selection parameter values Value & Effort, hold more authentic preposition in product roadmap, than any other format of 2X2 prioritization matrix. A team of domain expert assemble together, to provide a best input value on revenue potential and time to build.  It is prudential to check for the cost and profitability estimates, before deciding about financial lineage and leverage for new offering. This saves much investment of money, resources and time from getting wasted into futile ventures.    

 

  

 

The 2x2 Matrix is a decision support technique tool where the team plots options on a two-by-two matrix. Matrix is helps team to determine which tasks to focus on, and in which order. This matrix also as a 4 blocker or magic quadrant, the matrix diagram is a simple square divided into 4 equal quadrants. Each axis represents a decision criterion, such as Impact or effort. Each axis is divided into two sections (example: high impact and low effort, high impact and high effort, low impact and low effort and high impact and low effort).

 

Typically classify each box as follows:

1. Quick wins (high impact, low effort)

2. Major (high impact, high effort)

3. Fill-ins (low impact, low effort)

4. Thankless tasks (low impact, high effort)

 

2X2 Action priority matrix will look like the one shown below.

 

 

2X2 Matrix even just determining where to place each idea into the matrix will lead to new insights and clarity. Sometimes, this process is even more important than the final solution.

The 2×2 Matrix is a helpful way to plot common understandings or agreements on a particular subject in order to make a decision.

 

Benefits of using a prioritization matrix

In this principle, the benefits of a prioritization matrix are straightforward. This matrix is support of structured decision-making, they make it easy to:

1.       Break down and prioritize complex issues when there are multiple factors influencing the decision

2.       Clearly rank your priorities

3.       Determine very crucial focus areas

4.       Establish a basis for discussion about what is important.

 

This Matrix is prioritizing business tasks and is a basic yet reliable process for making sure dealing with to-do list in the most efficient manner possible.

 

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis is one of the best examples of the 2×2 Matrix. SWOT Analysis is useful in determining the abilities and disadvantages of a Product / business from an internal and external perspective.

 

Prioritization (2x2) matrices clearly define what should be focused on to accomplish more and achieve maximum productivity. This may involve organizing a group of activities that need to be finished as well as their ranking according to different factors (Impact and Criticality etc.).

There are 2 common ways of defining prioritization:

• What should be completed first when you have a lot of activities to complete?
• When you prioritize them to make sure you have time for everything?

A prioritization matrix tool is for task sorting that appears in the form of a table with some criteria of tasks value and demand. All the criteria make up several groups of tasks to do, that, in their turn, receive an objective picture of which group of tasks should be performed initially, which group has to be completed in the second place and which tasks do not have to be done at all.

 Prioritization matrix types:

As we mentioned, prioritization matrix is one of the tools that help project teams/business with tasks ranking and categorization. Let’s concentrate on 7 different types of prioritization and their benefits for business.

 

1)      Eisenhower’s prioritizing matrix

Eisenhower’s matrix gets its name from a thirty-fourth American president who knew how to prioritize things well. This matrix typically consists of 4 squares for the following:

• Square 1 contains the basically important and the most crucial tasks and issues. They should be completed immediately.
• Square 2 includes a set of very significant but not so crucial tasks. Based on this square, there is the main workflow for each employee with current responsibilities and planned tasks.
• Square 3 presents crucial but not very significant activities. This part may look like a bunch of disturbances that should be considered carefully before their direct implementation.
• Square 4 involves the tasks of the lowest priority both for their urgency and significance

Many experts respect this prioritization matrix for its simplicity and utilization flexibility, so it is actively used in work planning, business strategy development and other high-level management processes.

 

 

2)  Value and Effort prioritization matrix

This is very simple structure matrix allows experts to work their tasks in a more comfortable and systematic way. It has a classic view of four squares, each sqaure determines the value of the group of tasks and the approximate amount of effort for the task implementation. Let’s have a look at the Value and Effort prioritization matrix:

·         Square 1 – Quick wins: This group of tasks is different by its high significance for the entire workflow, and the tasks do not actually require a lot of efforts.

·         Square 2 – Big Bets/Major Projects: These tasks are quite valued and can bring the company to the success. However, they frequently need more efforts and time to be done.

·         Square 3 – Maybes/Fill –Ins: These activities are easy to be completed without many efforts but they hardly have a big importance for the business processes.

·         Square 4 – Time Sinks/Thankless tasks: This to-do list contains the activities with low priority with minimal efforts. Hence, it is recommended not to pay attention to these tasks during the day.

 

 

3)      Value and Risk prioritization matrix

Value & Risk prioritization matrix is easy-to-understand and to prioritize the tasks. This matrix helps experts divide the tasks into four categories by their value for the workflow and also recognize the real risk of a particular task. It should be noted that the value of each action/task/activity is determined individually by experts, but there are three different criteria for the risk scoring, as follows:

·         Schedule risk is the risk can be determined by the time the task starts

·         Cost risk is rather high amount of the task cost that exceeds the business possibilities

·         Functionality risk is lack of technological possibility to do the task

 

 

4)      Value and Complexity prioritization matrix

 Value & Complexity matrix of activities prioritization gives experts many exciting options: to divide all tasks/activities into the groups by their direct business value and complexity to be implemented. In the low level there are the tasks/activities with their minimal urgency and complexity. Similarly, high sections of the matrix there are tasks/activities with their maximum value and the most complicated level of implementation.

This prioritization matrix makes up that what should be done in order to achieve the best results in business processes.

 

 

 

5)      MoSCoW prioritization model

The actual name of this prioritization should consist of four letters, MSCW but two additional ‘O’s gives the name a certain zest and international charm. Let’s take a look at this method – it has four main groups for the tasks, as follows:

·         M (Must have this): It is a group of enforceable tasks/activities that should be executed immediately and they are tend to be out of the question.

·         S (Should have this if at all possible): It is a set of tasks/activities that are very significant to be done but they actually do not have strict time lines. These tasks/activities usually require a lot of time and efforts but nobody rushes the experts to do it faster.

·         C (Could have this if it does not affect anything else): It contains the tasks/activities that may be done in case of a full synchronization with the technological and logical structure of the project. Alternatives, these tasks should allow flexible methods to execute them, else they will not be implemented at all.

·         W (Will not have this time but would like in the future): It presents a list of some tasks/activities or ideas that would be good to be implemented during the next stages of the current or future projects. These tasks are supposed to be significant but they should wait for their turn.

This prioritization method is perfect while working on backlogs, release planning and creating the technology roadmaps.

 

6)      Kano model

Kano model is based on different levels of users/customers satisfaction with a product or service features and behavior requires conducting surveys and user or customer interviews before prioritizing. There are various ways to implement the Kano model.

·         Must-be features a customer or user considers the product is functional only if their required features are included

·         One-dimensional features are not “must-have” for work, but they seem necessary to customers or users

·         Attractive features are meant to add extra satisfaction. They are unexpected but nice-to-have

·         Indifferent features have the least likely impact on customers or users satisfaction and essentially have no value

·         Reverse features are most annoying. Usually they have a negative effect on customer or users satisfaction

 

7)      Opportunity scoring

The Opportunity scoring or opportunity analysis model is the prioritization technique that uses two graphs to measure and rank opportunities: Satisfaction and Importance until the feedback shared by clients or users are turned into desired outcomes.

After completing the list of ideal outcomes, the service provider will be able to survey their clients, asking them the questions:

• Is a particular feature that important and How?
• How satisfied are the customers or solutions with the solution?

Then the service providers have to plot their answers on the chart, which will give the opportunity to see the features that matter the most to the customers or clients. These sort of items will be listed for the next sprint.

 

 

Favorite matrix would be:

Value and Effort prioritization matrix because (1) it is easy to conduct, (2) great tool for identifying quick wins and low hanging fruit opportunities, (3) no detailed calculations are required, (4) promotes shared understanding between the team and stakeholders and (5) helps us to take faster decisions on ideas or opportunities or solution prioritization.

Also, it helps to identify the below:

• Which task is most important for business?
• Which task can yield more benefits?
• Which task fit best with my company/process visions or goals?

Prioritization Matrix is an essential and useful tool which assists in breaking down tasks and activities when there is too much in the plate. This facilitates decision making and help leaders to consider those activities which are most relevant, urgent, important and required for project and process sustenance. 

 

There are many variants of 2x2 Prioritization Matrix. 

Frequently used few are listed below.

• RVCE Matrix (Risk, Value, Cost and Effort)
• Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent, Important)
• MoSCoW - Value Based Prioritization Techniques (Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won't Have)
• WSJF (Value and Effort)
• Kano (Performance, Must-be, Attractive, Indifferent)

RVCE Matrix:

Decision Criteria: Risk, Value, Cost and Effort

Decision/Outcome: Consider, Avoid, Investigate and Prioritize 

 

Eisenhower Matrix:

Decision Criteria: Important or not, Urgent or not

Decision/Outcome: Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete

 

 

MoSCoW: Prioritization based on Value/Features 

Decision: Must have, Should have, Will not have, Could have

 

 

WSJF:

Decision Criteria: Value and Effort - High and Low

Decision/Outcome: Do now, Do Later, Do Next, Don't Do 

 

 

 

Kano:

Decision Criteria: Satisfaction and Functionality 

 

 

Other applications/variants of prioritization models includes that of:

• Lean Prioritization, where the effort is compared with ROI/Degree of Impact to consider the outcomes as Low Priority, Just Do it, Reconsider and Complex but worthwhile. 
• Value and Risk
• Value and Effort 
• Value and Complexity 

Benefits:

• Allows to analyze and compare results 
• It removes bias
• Allows to objectively rank the priorities 
• Determines most critical focus area
• Keeps progress of the project
• Better Time management 

Depending upon the type of project and consideration we can select any of the above mentioned models to Focus on the right project and better manage our time. My personal favorite model is Eisenhower Matrix, which is kind of, has the combination of essence from all the prioritization models available.

 

The 2*2 matrix or impact effort matrix is an advanced tool for root cause analysis (RCA), which can help you take action once the root cause is identified. In order to decide which of many suggested solutions should be implemented, the impact effort matrix was developed. It answers the question of which solutions seem to produce the most benefit with the least effort.

 

In this method, a priority matrix grid with four quadrants is drawn. The vertical axis is labelled "importance" and the horizontal axis is labelled "effort." Each quadrant of this grid can be read using the below logic:

• High Value/ Low Effort – These are projects that are “low-hanging fruit”. This should be focused first since it will help to create buy-in with the stakeholders and thus will indirectly help in implementing other suggestions.

• High Value/ High Effort – These projects are considered by the team to be high-effort and are worth pursuing. In order to obtain funding and resources, they may need to be advocated for over a longer period of time.

• Low Value/ Low Effort – “Harmless weeds” should be considered, but not at the expense of “low hanging fruit”.

• Low Value/ High Effort – This is the team's version of "rotten tomatoes" and should be avoided

For me low hanging fruit (High Value & Low Effort) is a favourite since as an implementation consultant, it is very important for me to align client team with our solutions & make champions out of them instead of making them roadblocks.

 

All the answers above seem very good. It is not easy to decide the winner for this one. Dharanesh and Mohamed Asif stand out as the best two responses. 

• Mohamed Asif brought up the RVCE method among other useful matrices. 
• Dharanesh has highlighted Opportunity Scoring which is a powerful approach. Had Dharanesh explained this method more clearly, he would have been the winner. 

Mohamed Asif is the winner as he has listed relevant methods with good explanation/examples.