R&D Toolkit
  1. Overview
      2. Overview
    1. Introduction
      2.
      1. Recent Updates
        2.
    2. Tools
      3.
      1. Research
        2.
      2. Delivery
        3.
    3. Resources
      4.
      1. R&D
        2.
      2. Websites
        3.
      3. Project Tracking
        4.
      4. Further Resources
        5.
  2. Research
      3. Research Tools
    1. Problem
      2.
      1. Discovery
        2.
      2. Prioritisation
        3.
      3. Project Scoping
        4.
      4. Framing
        5.
    2. Empathise
      3.
      1. Investigate
        2.
      2. User Interview
        3.
      3. User Insights
        4.
      4. Data
        5.
    3. Mapping
      4.
      1. Research Mapping
        2.
      2. User Mapping
        3.
      3. Organisation Mapping
        4.
    4. Synthesis
      5.
      1. Problem Reframing
        2.
      2. Define
        3.
      3. Feature Prioritisation
        4.
  3. Design
      4. Design Tools
    1. Ideation
      2.
      1. Warm Up
        2.
      2. Sketching
        3.
      3. Storyboarding
        4.
      4. Design Studio
        5.
  4. Delivery
      5. Delivery Tools
    1. Agile
      2.
    2. Scrum
      3.
      1. Overview
        2.
      2. Team
        3.
      3. Events
        4.
      4. Artifacts
        5.
      5. Glossary
        6.

marc.tools

A Product R&D Toolkit

Welcome. I'm Marc and this is a Toolkit to create things.
Research Tools    Problem
Prioritisation

Before progressing on to framing and understanding potential user problems further we need decide which problems to focus on and prioritise based on a number of factors including alignment with business goals, feasibility and urgency.

Taking the previously discovered problems and then using them with one or more of the below tools will help with prioritising by visually providing group consensus.

Section Tools
Priority Matrix
SWOT Analysis
NUF Test
Priority Chart
  
Problem    Prioritisation
Tool Info
Category Prioritisation
Updated 20/08/20
Templates   PDF     Miro
Creator Stephen Covey

At its basic, a Priority Matrix is a 2x2 grid, or X/Y grid that encourages items to be plotted in a way that visually prioritises things.

In this instance we can use it to understand the value of solving a problem vs the effort or resource required, butit can be used a number of other ways including feature prioritisation.

If there is an imbalance of items, i.e. they are too heavily skewed towards a particular area, then you can move theX or Y axis in order to rebalance things.

Tips

  • Try and consider the business impact of each item, the users, brand, revenue and efficiencies of each item should be considered.
  • Try and be fair with your plotting.
  • Encourage collaboration, the more diverse the better.
  • Always be zen and remove emotion.
Further Resources
  Enter The Matrix – Lean Prioritisation
  Value vs Effort
  Using Prioritization Matrices to Inform UX Decisions
  Getting your product priorities right
  Prioritization Matrix 101: What, How & Why?
  
Problem    Prioritisation
Tool Info
Category Prioritisation
Updated 10/08/20
Templates   PDF     Miro
Creator Albert Humphrey

Better for an existing business or product where there is data and experience, using a SWOT analysis can help further focus what problems to prioritise whilst aligning them with business goals.

Strengths

  • Things that the organisation is strong at.
  • Unique characteristics that differentiate the organisation.
  • Particular internal resources, for example the team, or IP.
Weaknesses
  • Things that competitors do better.
  • Poorly defined USP.
  • Limited Resources.
  • Things the organisation lack.
Opportunities
  • Markets that are underserved.
  • Lack of competition.
  • Media coverage of product or service.
  • Emerging market and need for product or service.
Threats
  • New competition.
  • Regulations changing.
  • Negative media coverage.
  • User attitudes shifting negatively.

  
Problem    Prioritisation
Tool Info
Category Prioritisation
Updated 20/08/20
Templates   PDF     Miro
Creator Sakichi Toyoda

Adding some quantitative analysis when prioritising can really help with further understanding the item and whether it should be pursued further. An NUF test is useful as a lean method of adding this data.

Taking the item and rating it based on it's 'newness', 'usefulness' and 'feasibility' and then looking at the total score helps to crystalise the opportunity at hand.

The NUF test works especially well as part of a group prioritising session, helping to align a team and achieve group consensus.

Further Resources
  NUF Test
  
Parent Category    Prioritisation
Tool Info
Category Prioritisation
Updated 20/08/20
Templates   PDF     Miro
Creator Stephen Covey

Understanding how big an impact tackling a specific problem will have is valuable when prioritising problems.

A Priority Chart can help guide this by focusing on the Quick Wins, the Big Bets and how they align with effort.

This also helps with removing any problems that are 'time sinks' and have little value in comparison to the amount ofresource required.

Further Resources
  What is feature prioritization?