Value vs Effort method & Priority matrix - The simplest way to prioritize your tasks in Jira 🦊

If you tend to prioritize the latest fire 🔥  or the last customer request đź›’ that you got you might end up a few months down the row feeling like you’re not achieving much. If you’re looking for a way to get back on track with your backlog prioritization you can use one of the prioritization techniques.

 The simplest one to start with is Value vs. Effort. ⚖️ It’s a really simple but efficient method that brings in a bit more structure and gives more confidence in your process of selecting what you’re going to work next.

 

 

How to use the Value vs. Effort Method

Using this framework you need to first identify what is the Value and Effort for each of your priorities/tasks.

 

Value

Ask "How does this contribute to our goal". The goal here can be anything that you are focusing on in your project. A few examples are increasing customer satisfaction, getting more closed deals, increasing code quality, and so on.

Value vs effort - Value.png

 

Effort

With this metric, we clarify "How difficult it is to deliver the task". Don't forget to assess the effort of your whole team, the Effort should be based on the estimation of all parties involved.

Value vs Effort - effort.png

 

Priority Matrix

This method mainly focuses on visualizing your tasks on the priority matrix that is the section into these quadrants:

Screenshot 2022-04-13 at 09.36.36.png

 

How to use Value vs Effort prioritization in Jira with the Foxly plugin

Foxly is a backlog prioritization app for Jira Cloud created by us at Jexo. It’s a handy app that helps you keep your priorities and prioritization process in Jira where the work happens.

The Value vs Effort method is predefined in the app. There is also an option to tweak the prioritization template to your needs, edit metrics, add additional ones or change the scoring formula.

Screenshot 2022-04-13 at 09.33.46.png

 

When it comes to prioritizing backlog you can use the Priority table in Foxly where you can fill Value and Effort metrics for issues in your backlog. The priority score is then automatically calculated for each issue.

Once you fill all metrics we can have a look at the final Priority Score and order our list by the priority score from highest to lowest and see the items that are most important on the top.

Screenshot 2022-04-13 at 09.35.25.png

 

To analyze your priorities you can use the Priority matrix in Foxly. You’ll be able to see the issues in 4 quadrants making it easier to identify quick wins.

Screenshot 2022-04-13 at 09.36.22.png

 

If the priority matrix view gets too busy you can scroll down and use the table view of each quadrant so you can easily access more information about each issue.

Screenshot 2022-04-13 at 09.45.04.png

 


 

The Value vs. Effort prioritization technique is popular for its simplicity. It's fast to implement and structuring your tasks into the Priority Matrix is a great visual way how to identify quick wins in your backlog.

 

If you’re looking for a backlog prioritization tool that integrates with Jira where you can use this template you can try our app Foxly. 🦊 It’s really fun and easy to use and helps keep everyone in your team and stakeholders up to date with the latest priorities.

 

If you feel that the Value vs Effort prioritization technique might not be the right one for you and your team, have a look at other prioritization methods like ICE, RICE, WSJF, or the Quick wins method.

 

👉  TRY Foxly on the Atlassian Marketplace

There is a 30-days free trial and as a bonus, the app is free for up to 10 users đź‘Ź

 

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