Feature Prioritization Matrix

This 4-box matrix is useful for prioritizing new feature ideas for a product or software application.

To get started with this board, you’ll likely want to delete all the existing cards. You can do that quickly by holding down the shift key and drawing a box around the cards with your mouse. This will select multiple cards at which time you can use the LEFT card menu on any of the highlighted cards and choose “Delete Selected Cards”.

Place the feature ideas into the board according to how Urgent they are and the Impact that they will have on the overall program.

Items will fall into one of four boxes, suggesting the proper next step.

High Impact, High Urgency –> INCLUDE.  Include these items in the next release, or as soon as possible.

Low Impact, High Urgency –> REVISIT.  Revisit these items at a later date to see if the Urgency has changed.

Low Impact, Low Urgency –> EXCLUDE.  No need for something that is not urgent and has low impact.

High Impact, Low Urgency –> DEBATE.  Just because things are not urgent doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Stakeholders like users and executives often don’t place value on things like infrastructure, or refactoring and so these items may need more serious debate to determine if they should be include in the next release or product iteration.

Cardsmith Pro-tip: Use the Zoom Slider Bar to make the Feature Prioritization background image larger or smaller in order to fit your screen.