Prioritisation Models for Product Managers
By: Harshit Jhawar
Tags: Prioritization, Framework, Product Management, Product Manager, Product Prioritisation

Prioritisation is one of the core responsibilities of Product Managers and there are many Prioritisation Models that Product Managers find useful in putting structure to their product/feature prioritisation.

The idea is to not look at all the models available out there, but to share some models I find useful on a day to day basis.

Continue Reading Below…

RICE Model — Reach Impact Confidence and Effort Model

The RICE Framework consists of 4 factors which are reach, impact, confidence, and effort. The framework then helps to calculate a RICE Score after considering the above factors.

Since Features with a higher reach, higher impact and higher confidence increases their chances of success, they are multiplied to ascertain a total impact. We then divide this factor by the Effort taken in order to assign a higher score to those features that have a higher impact and require less effort to build.

2. Kano Model

The Kano Model makes use of customers’ satisfaction and delight and adds them to the prioritisation model. The features can be defined under 3 buckets:

Kano proposed a standard questionnaire to measure participants’ opinions . The participants need to answer two questions for each product feature, from which one is “functional” (positive) and one is “dysfunctional” (negative). Let’s see the table as an example below to understand this further.

3. Value vs Effort Model + ROI Calculation

A much simpler version of the RICE Model, this model takes only 2 factors under consideration — A Value score, which in turn quantifies the overall value or impact attained from a feature. Then in the same way as the RICE Model, we divide this value by the effort taken to prioritise those features that provide a higher value with the least effort.

4. MoSCoW Model

The MosCow Model helps reach a common understanding with stakeholders on their importance they place on each feature/part of the product. This is not very useful for B2C products. It’s a basic model with a lot of limitations and not as comprehensive as the above models.

5. The Product Tree

Unlike the above models, The product tree helps to visualise a product and making it easier to break it down. The first step is to draw a tree and name different sections as per the below guidelines.

Once this is done, it helps to identify the most important branches by identifying the most dense clusters and prioritise them accordingly. When you are feeling creative, do give this a try with your team and customers :)

Credits — https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-tree/

6. Cost of Delay

A factor all models don’t have is to also look at the opportunity cost of not doing something. This is where the Cost of Delay Model comes into the picture. This model also induces FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to influence decision making. The longer you delay something, the larger piece you are missing out. Use this to get a clear picture of what is more important to build right now vs another period in time

Closing Statement

While there are many prioritisation models and frameworks available, but prioritisation is a very dynamic and strategic task and no framework or model can give you a strategic picture. More on that in a later article :)