The document outlines various prioritization techniques that can help individuals and teams effectively manage tasks and projects when everything seems urgent. It introduces several methods, such as the Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW Method, and RICE Scoring Model, to categorize and prioritize tasks based on urgency, importance, and impact. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of finalizing action plans by ensuring they are well-integrated and realistic in terms of available resources and objectives.

1. PROJECT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PHASE
COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION AND
PLAN FINALIZATION
JAMANDRE, ALFREDO, Q.
MPA 209 – PROJECT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Professor: Josefina B. Bitonio, DPA

2. COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
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HOW TO PRIORITIZE TASKS WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS IMPORTANT?
There's never enough time to do everything you want to do. It's a
universal problem. And we all accept that fact and live with its reality until
the worst-case scenario rears its ugly head: there's not enough time to do
everything you have to do.
When everything on your to-do list feels like it's of crucial
importance (or when someone you answer to feels that way), use one or
more of these prioritization techniques to help you identify your most
important task and get work done.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
WHAT IS A PRIORITIZATION TECHNIQUE?
A prioritization technique helps you make informed decisions about the order
you should complete your tasks based on different factors like their importance and due
dates. With a list of prioritized tasks in hand, you have a shield to respectfully push back
against unnecessary meeting invites and last-minute requests.
For example, when stakeholders would approach my teammates with "urgent"
requests, we would show them our prioritized task list and ask, "What should we cut in
order to accommodate this request?" After seeing the importance of the other things on
the list, urgent requests often suddenly became much less urgent.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
1. PRIORITY MATRIX
The priority matrix technique
consists of distributing your tasks across
a four-quadrant matrix like the one
shown below. The x-axis represents one
value, and the y-axis represents another.
Each quadrant, then, represents priority
based on the defined values.
HERE ARE 5 PRIORITIZATION TECHNIQUES TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY YOUR MOST IMPORTANT WORK.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
EISENHOWER MATRIX
With the Eisenhower matrix, the x-axis represents urgency while the y-
axis represents importance, leaving you with the following categories (from the top-left
going clockwise):
▰ Important but not urgent tasks are lower priorities that you should add to your to-do
list for later.
▰ Important and urgent tasks are your top priorities.
▰ Urgent but not important tasks are ones that must get done but can be delegated to
someone else.
▰ Not urgent or important tasks are probably unnecessary distractions.
To use it, evaluate each task based on its urgency and importance, and then place
the task in the corresponding quadrant.
THERE ARE INFINITE WAYS YOU COULD ORGANIZE YOUR PRIORITY MATRIX. HERE ARE POPULAR PRIORITY MATRIX
EXAMPLES TO GET YOU STARTED.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
EISENHOWER MATRIX

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
EISENHOWER MATRIX
By placing each task on
your list into a quadrant on the
Eisenhower Matrix, you can
determine what needs to be
done now, what you can save
for later, what's worth
delegating, and what you can
scratch out altogether.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
IMPACT EFFORT MATRIX
In the impact-effort matrix, the x-
axis represents impact, and the y-
axis represents effort. So you'll have a matrix
with the following quadrants (from top-left going
clockwise):
▰ High effort, low impact
▰ High effort, high impact
▰ Low effort, high impact
▰ Low effort, low impact
To distribute your tasks accordingly,
evaluate how much effort each one will take and
the impact completing it will have. Any tasks in
your Low effort, high impact quadrant are your top
priorities, followed by ones in your High effort,
high impact quadrants.
If you have a lot of tasks in these two quadrants,
consider working on one or two from your Low effort,
high impact quadrant. The sense of accomplishment
from checking off these quick wins might give you
that much-needed boost to tackle the rest.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
COST VALUE MATRIX
In the cost-value matrix, the x-
axis represents cost, and the y-axis represents value,
leaving you with the following groupings (from top-left
going clockwise):
▰ High value, low cost
▰ High value, high cost
▰ Low value, high cost
▰ Low value, low cost
Evaluate how much your task will cost (in terms
of time) and the value it'll provide. Tasks in your High
value, low cost quadrant are your quick wins, while
ones in your Low value, high cost are tasks you
should probably avoid.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
2. MoSCoW PRIORITIZATION METHOD
The MoSCoW method is a simple prioritization technique where you assign every task on
your to-do list to one of four categories:
▰ M – Must do: M tasks are things you absolutely have to do.
▰ S – Should do: S tasks are things you should do, but they're a lower priority than M tasks.
▰ C – Could do: C tasks are nice-to-dos. You'd like to do them, but if you don't, it's probably
not a big deal.
▰ W – Won't do: W tasks are things that just aren't worth doing.
After you've assigned each task to a category, delete your W tasks. Breathe a sigh of
relief at how much shorter your task list is now. Then get to work. Focus first on M tasks,
followed by S tasks, and if you have time, C tasks. By working on your list from the top
down, you can ensure that you're always working on your highest-priority tasks.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
3. ABCDE METHOD
The ABCDE method comes from Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. Similar to the MoSCoW
prioritization technique, the ABCDE method gets you to assign each task on your list into a
category:
▰ A tasks are things you must do.
▰ B tasks are things you should do.
▰ C tasks are nice-to-dos.
▰ D tasks are tasks you should delegate to someone else.
▰ E tasks are tasks you should eliminate.
The ABCDE method expands on the MoSCoW method by helping you prioritize the tasks
you need to do and identifying the ones that can be done by someone else.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
4. SCRUM PRIORITIZATION
Scrum prioritization (also referred to as Agile prioritization) is a prioritization method that relies on
ordering your tasks based on both priority and sequence. This technique works particularly well when you
have to take sequence into account.
For example, say your highest priority task is to re-tile your bathroom floor. However, you know that you
also need to have plumbers run new pipes in your bathroom, and they'll have to cut into the floor to do so.
Getting new pipes run may be a lower priority, but since it will impact your highest-priority task of re-tiling the
floor, it needs to be completed first.
In Scrum prioritization, you evaluate each task on your list using three criteria:
1.How important is this task?
2.How important is it compared to the other tasks on this list?
3.Is any other task dependent on this task?

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
5. BUBBLE SORT METHOD
The Bubble sort method is an effective way to answer the question, "How important is this task
compared to other tasks on this list?" It's especially useful if you're suffering from the everything-is-urgent
problem.
Start with a horizontal grid and assign each task to a cell.
Then, take the first two tasks and evaluate them against each other by asking, "Which task is more
important?"

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
Whichever task from the previous step is most important gets moved to the left. In the example below, Task 2 is
more important than Task 1, so the two tasks switch places.
Then compare the next two tasks. Which is more important? The more important task gets moved one cell to the
left.
Continue this process until you get to the end of the list. Then repeat the process from the beginning. Continue
repeating the exercise until every task is to the left of a less-important task. Your priorities are now listed from
left to right.
There's no specific tool designed for the Bubble sort method, but you can easily use a Kanban, to-do list, or
project management app for this. The only difference is that your sets of tasks will run from top-to-bottom instead
of left-to-right.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
HOW TO PRIORITIZE TASKS FOR TEAMS
Many of the prioritization methods listed above are useful for prioritizing your daily tasks. But
what if you're working on a larger scale? For example, a product team debating which features to roll out
next, or a marketing team deciding how to divide their advertising budget across different campaigns. In
those cases, here are a few prioritization methods to help your team identify and sequence those tasks:
 Kano model
 Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
 RICE scoring model

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
KANO MODEL
The Kano Model (pronounced “Kah-no”) is an approach to prioritizing features on a
product roadmap based on the degree to which they are likely to satisfy customers.
Product teams can weigh a high-satisfaction feature against its costs to implement to
determine whether or not adding it to the roadmap is a strategically sound decision.
The Kano Model is one of many prioritization frameworks designed to help product
teams prioritize initiatives. For example, Kano can help teams determine which features
will satisfy and even delight customers. Product managers often use the Kano Model
to prioritize potential new features by grouping them into categories. These feature
categories can range from those that could disappoint customers to those likely to satisfy
or even delight customers.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
WEIGHTED SHORTEST JOB FIRST (WSJF)
WSJF is a method for prioritizing work or projects. It is essentially a method for
calculating when it is better to go after the low-hanging fruit vs. the projects that have
higher-value, but also cost more to complete.
The idea is that the projects that are of higher value but shorter delivery time, should
take priority over projects that take longer and deliver less value.
It starts with assigning a value (or weight) to each project and evaluating how that value
changes when the project is delayed. Then we divide the change in value over time, by the
length of the job.
WSJF = Value/Project Duration

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION
RICE SCORING MODEL
The RICE scoring model is a prioritization framework designed to help product
managers determine which products, features, and other initiatives to put on their
roadmaps by scoring these items according to four factors. These factors, which form the
acronym RICE, are reach, impact, confidence, and effort.
Using a scoring model such as RICE can offer product teams a three-fold benefit.
First, it can enable product managers to make better-informed decisions, minimize
personal biases in decision making, and help them defend their priorities to other
stakeholders such as the executive staff.

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COMMON METHODS IN PRIORITIZATION

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PLAN FINALIZATION
HOW TO FINALIZE YOUR ACTION PLANS – INTEGRATE AND REALITY CHECK
ENSURE YOUR ACTION PLANS ARE COMPLETE AND WELL INTEGRATED
After all of the various action plans have been drafted, then planners should carefully examine
them to ensure that they are complete for each goal or strategy and organized efficiently for the entire
organization. At this point, action plans might exist for the entire organization or for programs (with or
without the intention of “rolling up” the various programs plans into an overall Strategic Plan).
FOR EACH ACTION PLAN, ONE AT A TIME, CONSIDER:
Are there any obvious objectives missing from the plan? Consider using a brainstorming
technique to generate more ideas for objectives.

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PLAN FINALIZATION
NEXT, FOR ALL OF THE ACTION PLANS TOGETHER, CONSIDER:
1. Is there any duplication of objectives across different action plans?
2. Can any of the objectives be combined for any one particular action plan?
3. Do any of the objectives conflict with each other, that is, would accomplishment of one objective
would make it almost impossible to accomplish another objective on the overall list?
4. Should any of the objectives be divided into one or more other objectives?
5. Are some or all of the objectives interconnected somehow?
6. If one or more of the objectives is accomplished, might it contribute to achieving others objectives
in one or more other action plans?
7. Might it be useful to combine any objectives that are in a similar category, for example, in central
administration or a similar program?

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PLAN FINALIZATION
CONDUCT A REALITY CHECK OF ALL OF YOUR ACTION PLANS
Once the action plans have been well integrated, then planners should carefully examine them to ensure
that they are realistic. Consider the following for all of the action plans together:
1. Are there enough people in the organization to attend to all of the objectives? For example, the action plans
might specify that eight people are needed to work toward accomplishing objectives in March through June,
but the nonprofit only has five people in the organization at that time.
2. Is there enough money to support the budgets specified across all of the action plans? For example, if the
action plans specify budgets that total $25,000 in order to support activities to work the toward objectives
from March through June, then can the nonprofit really provide that much money for that period?
3. Are there enough materials, equipment and facilities to support the implementation? For example, across all
of the action plans, if there needs to be two conference rooms available at the same time in March, then can
the nonprofit provide those facilities then?
4. Any other “red flags” become apparent now from review of all of the action plans? For example, are there
any major upcoming events that might have been forgotten, but that would significantly impact the success
of any of the action plans?

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PLAN FINALIZATION
ADJUST YOUR ACTION PLANS AS NEEDED
It is rare that a nonprofit has all of the resources available to implement the action plans as first developed.
The first versions of action plans are usually modified later on somehow. Usually, the money needed to support the
actions suggested in all of action plans is far more than the nonprofit can provide and/or needed much earlier than
the nonprofit can provide it – even with rigorous fundraising. Usually the nonprofit has to arrange “fall back” or
contingency plans that might include:
 Providing more resources
 Moving deadlines farther out
 Cutting back expectations and plans
It is much easier to adjust plans if the objectives have been specifically described, for example, it is easier to
adjust (probably reduce) an objective of “Draft a fundraising plan to raise $50,000 by March 1” than to adjust an
objective of “Do a fundraising plan.”

24. REFERENCES:
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▰ https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-prioritize/
▰ https://management.org/strategicplanning/integrating-reality-checking-action-plans.pdf

25. THANK YOU!
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