How to Prioritize when Everything is High Priority: the Data-Driven Approach
At a company where data is core to business, to help make data-driven decisions, I recommend the following 5-step prioritization approach, which builds on the RICE prioritization method, to determine which initiative to move forward with.
Step 1: List all possible initiatives you're considering, from pie-in-the-sky to the short-term.
Step 2: Score each item in the list on the following 4 attributes, each on a low/medium/high scale:
Impact: Expected business impact -- in profit/savings or towards mission
Note: If it solves an (internal/external) client pain point, how does that translate into business impact?
Confidence: Data availability
Effort: Timeline to deliverable
Interconnectedness to (or dependencies on) other products/projects [Hilary Mason]? e.g. What will happen to other initiatives if this one is not done for another month? [Harvard Business Review]
Step 3: Sort according to those that score high on business impact.
Step 4: Discuss results of Step 3 based on the other attributes to determine the next initiative.
Step 5: Repeat Steps 1-4, potentially quarterly.
Keywords: Data products, prioritization, productivity
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