Templates · Ideas & planning
Idea Prioritization
Sort a pile of ideas into three levels of priority, so the team agrees on what to pick up first and what can wait.
- Low priority Worth doing eventually, nothing breaks if it waits
- Medium priority Should happen in the next cycle or two
- High priority Costs the team or customers now — pick these up first
What it is
A sorting exercise. The team gathers its ideas and places each one in a column according to what waiting would cost: nothing, a little, or something the team or its customers are already paying for.
Goal
A short, agreed list of what to do first, and an equally explicit agreement on what can wait. The ideas in the low column are parked on purpose, not forgotten.
When to use it
- Improvement ideas have piled up over several retrospectives and few were acted on.
- Before planning a cycle, to decide which improvements get room in it.
- Everyone agrees that things should improve, and each person would start somewhere else.
When to pick another format
This format sorts ideas; it does not draw them out of what happened. If the team has not yet looked back at the sprint, begin with Went well, To improve, Action ideas and prioritise afterwards. If nearly everything ends up in the highest column, force a ranking with Dot Voting. If the debate is about one idea, to do it or not, use Pros and Cons.
How to run it
Ask everyone to write their ideas, one per card, and to put each in the column they think it belongs to. The disagreements about placement are the material of the session: settle them during grouping, while a card can still be dragged from one column to another.
- Low priority: for each card, ask what breaks if it waits. If the answer is nothing, it stays here. Whoever wants it higher names the cost: who pays, and when.
- Medium priority: these should happen in the next cycle or two. Ask what would make each one urgent, and how close that is.
- High priority: the test is the column’s own description: does this cost the team or its customers now? Keep the column small, because one that holds half the board prioritises nothing.
Turn the top of High priority into actions with an owner and a date, only as many as the team can carry beside its normal work. Tell the group what becomes of the other two columns.
Columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Low priority | Worth doing eventually, nothing breaks if it waits |
| Medium priority | Should happen in the next cycle or two |
| High priority | Costs the team or customers now — pick these up first |
To start a retrospective from this template, see Create a retro.