Strategy
MoSCoW Prioritization
Force every item into one of four buckets — Must, Should, Could, or Won't have this time. The Won't bucket is the point: it draws a shared, defensible line between what is truly essential and what is merely nice to have.
Duration
45 mins
Group Size
4-12
Category
Strategy
Difficulty
Easy
Participants will: Agree on what is genuinely essential versus merely desirable. Make the trade-offs explicit instead of implied. Name what they're consciously not doing this time.
The team will leave with four agreed lists — Must, Should, Could, and Won't-have-this-time — and a shared, defensible line between what's essential and what's merely nice.
Defend the Won't list — teams treat it as a parking lot they'll empty next week; it only works if it's real, visible, and revisited on a schedule. Watch the 60% rule: if most items land in Must, the exercise failed — a healthy split is a lean Must list with real weight in Should and Could. Tie every Must to the constraint; 'Must' is meaningless in the abstract — it's always 'must, in order to hit X by Y,' so keep pointing back at the deadline or budget. When two people bucket the same item very differently, you've found a misalignment about what the project is even for; don't rush past it. Great for release planning, scoping, and any time the team insists everything is a priority.
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