Prioritization Matrix Example

1. AHRQ Quality Indicators Prioritization Matrix Example. Section 1- Blue Section 2-Green Section 3-Purple Section 4-Orange Own Rate and National Benchmark.
2. Example – Four Field Prioritization Matrix A four field matrix can be used to prioritize and present the alternatives if you have only two evaluation criteria. There are many tools that can help you to conduct a prioritization analysis. One of the simplest ways is to use this template.

As an entrepreneur, one of the hardest things to figure out is 'What should I work on?' This is also true while working for someone else, but for those of us on our own, it can seem even more daunting.

It also is known as the 'prioritization matrix' or 'weighted scoring model'. No need to get confused. There are several types but two main categories: The weighted and unweighted one. The unweighted decision matrix assumes all criteria have the same importance while the weighted one applies different weights.

Here's a quick strategy I use when trying to figure out what to work on; I call it the Prioritization Matrix.

Step 1: Create a list.

You should already have a task-list of things you want to / could do floating around in Evernote, Trello, or any of the thousands of To-Do list apps. That's great, but for this exercise, start a new list.

Off the top of your head, name 10 things you could be working on. I recommend listing off the top of your head versus reviewing your existing lists because these are the things that are top of mind, and, at least for me, tend to be the things that are most important because I've been thinking about them recently.

Prioritization Matrix Example

For me, while writing this article, my list looks like:

Wow, that's a lot that I could be doing. All of which (save #10), could contribute to my business in some way. It's at this point you might start to feel overwhelmed, but worry-not, just move to step 2.

Step 2: Assign value to each task.

Now, with the list in front of you, assign value from 1-10 (10 being the highest) to each of the tasks you've come up with.

You have to determine what drives value for you; is it exposure, credibility, money? Hint: as an entrepreneur, money is a good one. Buildbox 2.0.

As you can see, this isn't a ranking of the list, so it's OK if two or more entries have the same value ranking. Now if they all have the same value, you have to be more honest with yourself as to which are truly the most valuable.

Step 3: Assign difficulty to each task.

The next step is to think about how hard each task is going to be to complete and assign it a number from 1-10 (10 being the hardest).

Note that the difficulty assignment should be based on your ability (and motivation) to do it. It doesn't matter if entering numbers in a spreadsheet is technically easy, if you despise it and find it a challenge for you to complete, then give it a hard ranking.

Prioritization Matrix Sample

Step 4: Calculate the priority score.

Once you have both a Value and Difficulty score for each task, calculate their priority score by dividing the Value by the Difficulty.

So, for example, if a task has a Value of 8 and a Difficulty of 4, the Priority score is 2.0.

Step 5: Re-order the tasks according to score.

The final step is to re-order your list of 10 things to do by Priority Score, with the largest value going up top. Congratulations, that's the task you should be working on.

A Few Notes About the Process

The whole point of the Prioritization Matrix is to make the process of prioritizing tasks a lot easier. That being said, there are a few things to consider:

• The value of the Matrix is that it takes a look at both Value and Difficulty. Just because a task is valuable, doesn't mean it's the right thing to work on at that time (or for you to do it at all, see below). Just because a task is easy (such as watching Rick and Morty) doesn't mean it's where you should focus your efforts. Productivity lies in finding the tasks that are valuable and easy enough to do that you actually do them.
• Just because something has a score < 1.0 doesn't mean it's not worth doing, it just means that it's harder for you to do than the value you can get out if it. If it's not a task you're willing to delete (aka not do at all), it means it's a perfect task to consider outsourcing or delegating to someone else. For example, determining my Perfct Day app strategy is very valuable, but it's hard for me to decide. So I'm going to request assistance from some smart friends to help me figure it out.
• This is just one way to think about the work you need to do. If through this exercise you realize you really want to work on Task #2 instead of #1, great, do that. That you do something is better than what you do.

I hope that helps you with the prioritization process. You can find an example copy of the spreadsheet I used here: Prioritization Matrix Example. Share any feedback or questions in the comments.

Enjoy this post? Sign up below and receive the latest updates from me on an inconsistent basis.

Many real-life decision-making situations have several conflicting criteria that need to be considered at the same time. Traditionally, this is often dealt with by applying trial-and-error methods, or by relying on the experience of people. In such situations, decision makers are required to use prioritization in order to make effective decisions. Prioritization is an essential skill that needs to be mastered by professionals to make the best use of their own and their teams' time and effort.

A Prioritization Matrix is a decision-making method that allows to select the most appropriate alternative after evaluating multiple conflicting criteria. It provides a way to prioritize a list of items into an order of importance in order to select and decide further actions. It is often used in the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and other decision-making methodologies. This might be a project that you need to start, an issue that you need to resolve, or a solution that you need to implement.

A Prioritization Matrix helps reduce options to the most effective and least costly among the available choices. With good prioritization, you can better make use of time and resources to focus on the things that really matter. And if prioritization is implemented in a team-based manner, it allows the team to agree on the priorities and move toward the action collectively.

Developing a list of evaluation criteria is the first step before prioritizing your alternatives. These criteria represent the standards by which the different alternatives can be measured and compared. They will provide an objective and consistent basis for comparison. Brainstorming, affinity diagrams and voting can be used to generate, organize and reduce the evaluation criteria. It is important when developing the evaluation criteria to ensure that costs, benefits and risks are taken into account.

After having an agreement on the assessment criteria, you then need to weight the criteria according to importance as perceived by the team and other stakeholders. For example, when hiring a new employee, skills may weigh less than experience as it is considered by the recruitment team to be less important. The simplest way to weight the evaluation criteria is by allowing the team members to distribute a certain number of points (say 100) between the selected criteria.

The prioritization matrix template is then used to list all criteria against the alternatives, attach weights to the criteria, and conduct the prioritization exercise. You may select one of the four formats for your prioritization analysis.

How to Construct and Use a Prioritization Matrix

The following steps describe how to construct and use the prioritization matrix:

• Explain the purpose for constructing the prioritization matrix.
• Identify and agree on the alternatives that need to be prioritized.
• Ensure that the evaluation criteria and their weights are agreed by all.
• Facilitate the prioritization session by allowing each team member to rank the alternatives against each criteria from best to worst.
• Collect the team's rank scores, average and add them up on one worksheet.
• Calculate the final weighted scores for each alternative.
• Sort the items by their ranks to make them clearer for communication and decision making.

Note: The outcome of the analysis can be presented using a bar chart to see which alternative is the most suitable based on the scores of the team.

Example

This example illustrates a prioritization analysis that was conducted to select the most efficient data collection method at a workplace. Note that high score of cost doesn't mean that the cost is high, but low or 'cost-effective'.

Example

A manufacturing company needs to select two projects to be implemented this year. Consider the following project options and criteria:

It was agreed that ‘savings' should be given a weight of 3 as it is relatively more important than the other two criteria. Onion browser online. In the example below, the team has used the prioritization matrix to select the most profitable among five candidate projects.

Example – Four Field Prioritization Matrix

A four field matrix can be used to prioritize and present the alternatives if you have only two evaluation criteria.

Project Prioritization Matrix Template Excel

There are many tools that can help you to conduct a prioritization analysis. One of the simplest ways is to use this template.

Examples Of Prioritization Matrix

Off the top of your head, name 10 things you could be working on. I recommend listing off the top of your head versus reviewing your existing lists because these are the things that are top of mind, and, at least for me, tend to be the things that are most important because I've been thinking about them recently.

Prioritization Matrix Example

For me, while writing this article, my list looks like:

Wow, that's a lot that I could be doing. All of which (save #10), could contribute to my business in some way. It's at this point you might start to feel overwhelmed, but worry-not, just move to step 2.

Step 2: Assign value to each task.

Now, with the list in front of you, assign value from 1-10 (10 being the highest) to each of the tasks you've come up with.

You have to determine what drives value for you; is it exposure, credibility, money? Hint: as an entrepreneur, money is a good one. Buildbox 2.0.

As you can see, this isn't a ranking of the list, so it's OK if two or more entries have the same value ranking. Now if they all have the same value, you have to be more honest with yourself as to which are truly the most valuable.

Step 3: Assign difficulty to each task.

The next step is to think about how hard each task is going to be to complete and assign it a number from 1-10 (10 being the hardest).

Note that the difficulty assignment should be based on your ability (and motivation) to do it. It doesn't matter if entering numbers in a spreadsheet is technically easy, if you despise it and find it a challenge for you to complete, then give it a hard ranking.

Prioritization Matrix Sample

Step 4: Calculate the priority score.

Once you have both a Value and Difficulty score for each task, calculate their priority score by dividing the Value by the Difficulty.

So, for example, if a task has a Value of 8 and a Difficulty of 4, the Priority score is 2.0.

Step 5: Re-order the tasks according to score.

The final step is to re-order your list of 10 things to do by Priority Score, with the largest value going up top. Congratulations, that's the task you should be working on.

A Few Notes About the Process

The whole point of the Prioritization Matrix is to make the process of prioritizing tasks a lot easier. That being said, there are a few things to consider:

• The value of the Matrix is that it takes a look at both Value and Difficulty. Just because a task is valuable, doesn't mean it's the right thing to work on at that time (or for you to do it at all, see below). Just because a task is easy (such as watching Rick and Morty) doesn't mean it's where you should focus your efforts. Productivity lies in finding the tasks that are valuable and easy enough to do that you actually do them.
• Just because something has a score < 1.0 doesn't mean it's not worth doing, it just means that it's harder for you to do than the value you can get out if it. If it's not a task you're willing to delete (aka not do at all), it means it's a perfect task to consider outsourcing or delegating to someone else. For example, determining my Perfct Day app strategy is very valuable, but it's hard for me to decide. So I'm going to request assistance from some smart friends to help me figure it out.
• This is just one way to think about the work you need to do. If through this exercise you realize you really want to work on Task #2 instead of #1, great, do that. That you do something is better than what you do.

I hope that helps you with the prioritization process. You can find an example copy of the spreadsheet I used here: Prioritization Matrix Example. Share any feedback or questions in the comments.

Enjoy this post? Sign up below and receive the latest updates from me on an inconsistent basis.

Many real-life decision-making situations have several conflicting criteria that need to be considered at the same time. Traditionally, this is often dealt with by applying trial-and-error methods, or by relying on the experience of people. In such situations, decision makers are required to use prioritization in order to make effective decisions. Prioritization is an essential skill that needs to be mastered by professionals to make the best use of their own and their teams' time and effort.

A Prioritization Matrix is a decision-making method that allows to select the most appropriate alternative after evaluating multiple conflicting criteria. It provides a way to prioritize a list of items into an order of importance in order to select and decide further actions. It is often used in the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and other decision-making methodologies. This might be a project that you need to start, an issue that you need to resolve, or a solution that you need to implement.

A Prioritization Matrix helps reduce options to the most effective and least costly among the available choices. With good prioritization, you can better make use of time and resources to focus on the things that really matter. And if prioritization is implemented in a team-based manner, it allows the team to agree on the priorities and move toward the action collectively.

Developing a list of evaluation criteria is the first step before prioritizing your alternatives. These criteria represent the standards by which the different alternatives can be measured and compared. They will provide an objective and consistent basis for comparison. Brainstorming, affinity diagrams and voting can be used to generate, organize and reduce the evaluation criteria. It is important when developing the evaluation criteria to ensure that costs, benefits and risks are taken into account.

After having an agreement on the assessment criteria, you then need to weight the criteria according to importance as perceived by the team and other stakeholders. For example, when hiring a new employee, skills may weigh less than experience as it is considered by the recruitment team to be less important. The simplest way to weight the evaluation criteria is by allowing the team members to distribute a certain number of points (say 100) between the selected criteria.

The prioritization matrix template is then used to list all criteria against the alternatives, attach weights to the criteria, and conduct the prioritization exercise. You may select one of the four formats for your prioritization analysis.

How to Construct and Use a Prioritization Matrix

The following steps describe how to construct and use the prioritization matrix:

• Explain the purpose for constructing the prioritization matrix.
• Identify and agree on the alternatives that need to be prioritized.
• Ensure that the evaluation criteria and their weights are agreed by all.
• Facilitate the prioritization session by allowing each team member to rank the alternatives against each criteria from best to worst.
• Collect the team's rank scores, average and add them up on one worksheet.
• Calculate the final weighted scores for each alternative.
• Sort the items by their ranks to make them clearer for communication and decision making.

Note: The outcome of the analysis can be presented using a bar chart to see which alternative is the most suitable based on the scores of the team.

Example

This example illustrates a prioritization analysis that was conducted to select the most efficient data collection method at a workplace. Note that high score of cost doesn't mean that the cost is high, but low or 'cost-effective'.

Example

A manufacturing company needs to select two projects to be implemented this year. Consider the following project options and criteria:

It was agreed that ‘savings' should be given a weight of 3 as it is relatively more important than the other two criteria. Onion browser online. In the example below, the team has used the prioritization matrix to select the most profitable among five candidate projects.

Example – Four Field Prioritization Matrix

A four field matrix can be used to prioritize and present the alternatives if you have only two evaluation criteria.

Project Prioritization Matrix Template Excel

There are many tools that can help you to conduct a prioritization analysis. One of the simplest ways is to use this template.

Examples Of Prioritization Matrix

Business Prioritization Matrix Examples