Could, Should, MustPrioritise and rate features.
Summary
Originally for working with user stories, this method (also known as MoSCoW method) can be used to bring prioritisation into any point of discussion when there’s a number of available segments which are comparable with each other. In most cases, it is used for providing weight to work packages.
- Could: This item is nice to have and not of considerable importance.
- Should: This item is important in order to meet certain KPIs.
- Must: This item is essential for the overall mission and needs to be part of the scope.
Step-by-step
- Set up a meeting and have plenty of pens and post-it's available.
- In individual work, put all points of discussion on post-it’s and place them on a wall.
- Each post-it will be discussed shortly, in a pre-defined amount of time (30 – 60 seconds), and then rated or even clustered into one of the three categories Could, Should, and Must.
- Additionally, a relative estimated implementation effort can be added to the post-it. Usually provided as numbers 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100, where 0 is no effort and 100 is a very high effort.
- Record the tasks, incorporate them into your backlog if necessary, or take a picture of the “post-it-wall” for later reflection.
