#ACTION PRIORITY MATRIX HOW TO#

#ACTION PRIORITY MATRIX HOW TO#

How to create an impact/urgency project priority matrix In a basic impact/urgency matrix, you end up with four categories: However, the task is time-sensitive: the CTO expects an answer within a few hours, not a few days. It’s unlikely to affect the project much, especially if the project isn’t even the topic of conversation. However, whether you complete this task today or tomorrow might not matter.Īnswering emails from the CTO is not typically high-impact. If you don’t track the project, you don’t know when parts of it are running overtime, which could affect the entire project’s success. The project progress chart is high-impact.

Impact: how key this task or feature will be to the project as a whole.įor example, let’s look at two common tasks on a project manager’s plate: charting project progress and answering emails from the CTO.

This type of project priority matrix has two arms: Table: Example impact/urgency style project priority matrix Tasks not relating to the project or position The Impact and Urgency aspects of ‘important’ often get conflated, so separating them can be very beneficial to a project. You can use the Impact/Urgency Mapping matrix to map the effect of a task against the expected timeframe it takes to complete.

Base your roadmap development on this matrix.

Come to a consensus on which factors to constrain, accept, and enhance.

Talk about what you all want the project to achieve.

You should create this matrix before developing a roadmap for the project. This is a very simple tool, but it requires good information to get good results. How to create a time/performance/cost matrix

Enhance: Actively work to increase this factor.

Accept: Let this factor be as large as necessary.

Constrain: Actively work to decrease this factor.

This matrix maps time, performance, and cost against three actions:

Also, a high-quality product might rank behind competitor products or at a cost that most of the target market doesn’t want to pay, leading to poor sales. For a start, at some point, you’ll hit diminishing returns: extra money or time only slightly improving quality. But it’s rarely useful to just throw time and money at a project. Also, more money will often allow for better performance.

Typically, you’ll get a better level of performance if you allow more time for the project. These three priorities interact and compete in any project. Table: Simple example of a project priority matrix Cost: how much the project will cost the company or how much the end product will cost the consumer.Performance (or scope): how many features, or the level of quality, the project needs.Time/Performance/Cost Project Priority MatrixĪ super simple version of a priority matrix maps three basic, competing priorities in any project: Which area of a large project requires the most attention.Which feature your team should start next.Use a project priority matrix when you need to decide: It can also be used to prioritize projects themselves, although opinions are mixed on whether this usage is a good idea. A project priority matrix – also known as a prioritization matrix – can help you work out and negotiate priorities for a project.

Action priority matrix