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MoSCoW Ratings in Agile Project Management
March 12, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Agile Project Management, Project Management Definitions
MoSCoW Ratings in Agile Project Management
By Patrick Merg
MoSCoW ratings can be used to prioritize many things. Prioritizing tasks with MoSCoW ratings in a to-do is list is just one way of using Agile thinking to boost personal productivity.
When I am overwhelmed I use MoSCoW to prioritize personal tasks.
- M - MUST do this task. In this context MUST is similar to Steven Covey’s Important / Urgent Quadrant. Schedule time to handle this task now.
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S - SHOULD do this task. The world won’t end if it is not done today. But it’s a task that if it does not get done could lead to problems. This task should remain in your personal task backlog (to do list).
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C - COULD do this task. This task is neither urgent nor important now. This task could remain in your personal task backlog (to do list) or be delegated.
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W - WON’T do this task. Doing this task won’t move the project forward or provide any value. Delete this task.
We can’t add more hours in the day but we can spend the time we do have on the right things. By applying MoSCoW ratings to tasks and responsibilities, you can make sure you are focused on the right priorities and remove waste by not spending time on needless tasks.
Patrick Merg is a determined, results-oriented management professional that creates, sells, and delivers high-value, innovative business software solutions. He utilizes leadership, communication and interpersonal skills to build high performing agile software development teams that meet and exceed goals. Patrick has a strong background in agile project management, leading software engineering teams and innovative product development. He runs a blog on Agile Project Management, which can be found at: http://patmerg.blogspot.com/
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2 people have left comments
MoSCoW is more granular than what I have seen used in software projects where the product manager has usually removed the Won’t category. This leaves the “Must” and a priority ordered list of “Optional” deliverables, which are often trimmed from the bottom upwards.
When asking stakeholders to help reduce the scope, I have asked them to assign priorities 1-4 to the optional list to help us determine where in the list to make the cut.
Hello
The Won’t category is very useful for tracking User Stories that were proposed for the product and then shelved.
Example in large enterprise projects there may be a project sponsor team that ultimately drives the strategic direction of a project. User Stories that don’t fit that vision are candidates for a Won’t rating.
The Won’t category is less useful for smaller projects where the product owner knows what is needed.
Pat