Decoding Prioritization: Navigating Challenges and Mastering Frameworks for Success

In the face of an overwhelming influx of customer requirements for the quarter, the challenge of limited resources loomed over. Does that ring a bell? All of us at some point in our career faced the dilemma of prioritization, fearing the consequences of potential missteps. To reduce the risk of failures, we involve all the relevant stakeholders, team members into endless and tiring meetings. The struggle of every requirement seeming crucial is nothing new. In one such meeting, my mentor and close friend asked me to read about the prioritization frameworks with an emphasis on WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) framework.

The choice of prioritization technique often depends on the specific goals, team dynamics, and the nature of the work being prioritized. It's not uncommon for teams to combine or adapt these techniques to create a customized approach that fits their unique context. Additionally, the Agile mindset often encourages flexibility and the use of different techniques as needed throughout a project or product development lifecycle. Working with Product and Engineering Leads in a Product based company we believed WSJF framework would fit our needs.

The idea is to prioritize work items with the highest WSJF score, as they represent the best combination of business value, time criticality, and risk reduction/opportunity enablement relative to their size. Now why is this important? Pause here for a moment and pull out the latest and greatest customer requirement list at hand. Are the requirements one liners, vague and open for interpretation? If the answer is yes, then how would the Product Leads convince the Engineering Leads to execute the requirements? How would the Engineering Leads convey the information to the team for execution? Even worse, what would you present to your Business Unit (BU) heads?

Implementing the WSJF prioritization framework requires thorough preparation. Initially, each requirement must be tied to business value and time criticality, demanding a comprehensive market study and a visionary approach to position the requirement strategically. Then the Product manager evaluates the alignment of the requirement with the company's vision before scoring the business value and time criticality factor for the WSJF process.

Transitioning from the preparation phase of the WSJF prioritization framework, the journey continues seamlessly into the realm of Risk reduction/opportunity enablement (RR/OE). This factor requires alignment with the overall product strategy, a deep understanding of the market, and effective collaboration across different functions to address risks and seize opportunities. Both Product and Engineering Leaders along with their team considers the extent to which a work item helps reduce project or organizational risks or enables new opportunities. Work items that address significant risks or open up new possibilities receive higher scores in this category.

The final factor SIZE. Let me tell you a story with a point..

In the heart of our Agile journey, the team gathered in a cozy room, armed with sticky notes and enthusiasm. The task at hand? Story pointing – a ritual that felt like a secret code only Agile enthusiasts could decipher.

As the clock ticked, each team member took turns presenting their interpretation of a user story's complexity. Laughter echoed as someone compared a particularly tricky task to scaling a mountain, while another likened a straightforward story to a leisurely stroll in the park.

The room buzzed with discussions, debates, and the occasional "aha" moments. Like detectives solving a mystery, the team unraveled the layers of each story, considering its intricacies and potential challenges. The sticky notes transformed into a mosaic of numbers, reflecting the team's collective judgment on effort.

Through the chaos emerged a consensus, a shared understanding of the workload. Story points became more than just numbers; they became a language spoken by the team, a way to communicate the perceived complexity of tasks without the burden of precise time estimates.

And so, armed with a newfound clarity, the team ventured forth, ready to conquer the challenges that lay ahead, all thanks to the magic of good old story pointing.

There are several metrics that can be used for factoring in the size of a job. Story pointing is one of them and worked seamlessly for me and my team every time. A general reminder, there's no singular, foolproof process. Instead, the wisdom lies in the art of selection, choosing and tailoring methodologies that resonate with the unique rhythm of each endeavor, ensuring that the journey towards success is as diverse as the destinations themselves.

Well there you have it. A prioritized list of requirements to work on. But wait, how do you calculate WSJF from the scores assigned.

WSJF = (Business?Value+Time?Criticality+RR/OE)/Job?Size

I have resorted to using excel sheets / Google Sheets for doing the calculations. The problem is excel and Google sheets are floating documents and you tend to either lose them or have multiple working copies leading to confusion and chaos. I believe there is a better way to do it, that I am not aware of yet! Let me know in the comment section how would you address this challenge.

A quick question. Did you ever have an employee walk up to you and say I don't know what I am doing in this project. Feels like I am not adding any value or my work is becoming redundant. As a leader/mentor/friend do you think the prioritization exercise armed you with some answers to motivate that employee?