Your list of project requirements is endless. The time frame, tight. The budget, minimal (there’s a shocker). And your resources, scarce. Even with the most optimistic, go-getter attitude and mindset, you know meeting the deadline with the full list of priorities delivered is an impossible feat.
Whenever you face this kind of scenario, you should turn to a prioritization technique like the MoSCoW method. While it’s not the only framework you can use, it’s one of the simplest and most effective ones, and it can be applied across a broad range of business disciplines.
So, if you want a sure-fire way to maximize results, minimize project delays and prevent project failure, you need to keep reading. Why? Because this article promises to take confusion out of the mix and bring some sense to your approach. Find out what the MoSCoW method is and how you can apply it to set up, analyze, rationalize, align and put your priorities in order. Finally!
What is the MoSCoW Method?
The MoSCoW method (also known as the MoSCoW technique or MoSCoW analysis) is a prioritization framework for breaking down requirements or tasks in order of importance and value. It’s a simple system, used mostly by SaaS product developers and project managers, but it can be applied to any business discipline, including marketing and design.
In a nutshell, the MoSCoW method involves dividing priorities into four groups to achieve the most efficient management of time, budget, and effort.
Those four groups or categories are:
- Must have – Non-negotiable, primary need
- Should have – Highly desirable, very important
- Could have – Nice to have, optional
- Won’t have – Not necessary (for now)
By taking this approach, the idea is you and your team will know which tasks to tackle first, and what order to take with the rest.
If done right, the tasks and priorities in your first category (must haves) will always be the ones that offer the best return on investment or greatest value towards your purpose.
As the brainchild of expert software developer, author, speaker, and all-round business mentor and leader Dai Clegg, the MoSCoW method was originally developed way back in the 90’s during his time at Oracle. Clegg needed a way to help his product management team prioritize tasks in the release development process, and this is the framework he came up with.
How Does the MoSCoW Method Work?
The MoSCoW method works by dedicating the majority of your efforts and resources to the priorities that will make the greatest and best impact on your end goal. This means creating a clear outline of what success looks like, but also, what can be achieved with your given resources and working conditions.
There are five things you need to be clear on before you start grouping:
- What is the ultimate purpose of your project or initiative?
- Who or what will experience the majority of the benefits of your project or initiative’s end goal?
- Who are the relevant stakeholders that need to be included in the process?
- What are the conditions (budget, timeframes, resources)?
- What ranking criteria will you use to determine how you divide and allocate tasks or priorities into each of the four categories?
The Four MoSCoW Categories
Once you have clearly answered and agreed on the above questions, you can start sifting priorities or requirements into each of the four MoSCoW categories.
Must Have
Your must-haves are your non-negotiables. They are the bare minimum you must deliver to take your project or initiative to launch.
Must-have tasks can be quickly identified because they have one or more of four traits:
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – Critical or foundational feature or requirement without which the solution isn't a solution and doesn’t meet the expected needs of customers or users.
- Resource concentrated – These are the priorities for which you are willing to allocate the largest chunk of your resources. For example, you’ll allocate 50-60% of your budget and time to their completion.
- Legal risk – Any task linked to the legality of your initiative or feature, making the release or launch compliant.
- Safety risk – Any task linked to making sure industry-wide security rules are not breached. For example, in app development, these are usually requirements around the safe storage of personal data and information.
Should Have
Your should-haves are important and highly desirable but not vital requirements or features. They are all the things that would make the launch an even better one, but without them, the overall project or initiative would still be a success.
You can spot should have tasks because they are usually:
- Not solution dependent – Instead, they bring additional value on top of the primary needs and purpose of the project.
- Inefficient but acceptable – They are the things that work as they are at the moment but can be done better or quicker.
- Next release feature – Because they are not vital, they are usually tasks that would be OK to leave for the next release, initiative, or future updates and fixes.
- Low pain for users – It doesn’t interfere with the primary use case or finished product and doesn’t cause extreme pain or difficulty for users to carry out their key tasks.
Could Have
Your could-haves are all the nice-to-have additions, but they are not deal breakers for the end goal. In other words, they are all the ‘bells and whistles’ types of features or requirements.
A couple of ways to recognize could have items for your list are:
- Low impact – At a glance, you know their inclusion won’t have any significant impact on the overall delivery or primary purpose of your goal.
- Optional add-on – They are clearly not primary or secondary needs of the user.
- Small perks – Usually, they are small things that might differentiate you in the market but won’t make you more or less competitive in terms of your core functionality or offering.
Won’t Have (This Time)
The won’t-haves are items that are not a priority and definitely won’t be included in the current initiative or project. But this doesn’t mean they will be scrapped forever. A few will probably end up being the must-haves of future standalone projects. So, it’s a bit like an idea bucket for future innovation.
A couple of ways to pinpoint your won’t have items includes:
- Non-priority – They are not important for now. They could be big or small, great or vague, ideas that are not in any way core-functionality-dependent.
- Mid-process ideas – You’ll find your team comes up with new ideas throughout the development process. These will usually go into this category.
Now, you might think this is an unnecessary category to have, but this last group plays a critical role in the MoSCoW prioritization technique. That’s because it keeps you on track to your end goal. By identifying the ‘won’t haves’ right at the start, and throughout your project, you:
- Prevent scope creep – Helping the entire team focus on the other three categories only right through to the end.
- Manage expectations – Make it clear upfront, to all stakeholders what requirements won’t be delivered through the initiative.
When to Use the MoSCoW Method?
You should use the MoSCoW method whenever you have a goal-oriented task where you are faced with:
- Multiple competing priorities
- Set budgets
- Delivery timeframes
- Limited resources
- Multiple stakeholders whose opinions need to be considered
Using the MoSCoW method whenever you come up against any of these scenarios gives you a clear-cut guide. One that will help you sift through the fluff and concentrate the vast majority of your efforts on the truly important stuff.
Example of the MoSCoW Method in Action
Let’s take a look at how the MoSCoW approach can be applied to a real-life example.
Say you are a digital marketing agency that needs to launch a new website for Client A.
Their budget is $30k, and their deadline is 90 days.
As a marketing account manager, you might come up with the following MoSCoW framework.
MosCoW Framework for Marketing Client A
Purpose: New website launch
Value: Online home and presence for brand
Relevant stakeholders: Client A, designer, UI and UX experts, software developer, copywriter, content administrator.
Conditions:
- $30k budget
- 90-day delivery timeframe
- 6 team members
| Must Have | Should Have | Could Have | Won't Have |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category Criteria: $18k, 3-week production time | Category Criteria: $9k, 2-week production time | Category Criteria: $3k, 1 week production time | Category criteria: 0$ |
| Secure domain name and hosting | Appointment Scheduling functionality | Monthly Newsletter | Blog |
| Customer, product, brand & market analysis report | Launch Week, Paid advertising promotion | Interactive design | |
| Plan site architecture | |||
| Write website copy | |||
| Design website | |||
| Data Security | |||
| Legal, compliance |
This is a basic framework that can be constructed with more detail, but it gives you an idea of how to prioritize and categorize tasks to your ultimate goal.
Pros and Cons of the MoSCoW Prioritization Method
Most systems have flaws, and this one is no exception. However, the advantages of using the MoSCoW prioritization method far outweigh the slight disadvantages, which you can work around.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple and flexible prioritization framework that can be iterated | Success dependant on reliability of ranking criteria used for each category which needs to be identified on a case-by-case basis |
Promotes stakeholder engagement and alignment | Lacks prioritization method within categories |
| Makes the delivery of core needs a priority | Opinion bias risk if the right stakeholders are not included |
| Minimizes risk of failure or missed delivery | |
| Provides maximum value with given resources | |
| Applicable to a broad mix disciplines | |
| Reduces scope creep |
One of the best things about the MoSCoW method is its logical framework, flexibility, and broad application.
The first thing it does is pinpoint your focus and purpose and encourage you to involve the right people before big decisions and selections are made. This can eliminate potential project delays down the line.
Also, because you get to pick and choose your ranking criteria on a project-by-project basis, you are not restricted to follow set rules for each category. This is what makes it a good fit for a range of initiatives.
Who Is The MoSCoW Method For?
The MoSCoW method can be used by product and software developers, business analysts, marketers, and designers. It can also be used by individuals or teams in any profession whenever they face a prioritization dilemma.
Product and software developers
Product and software developers can use the MoSCoW framework to set up a project and its priorities in the early development stages. This would be the ‘master’ plan for all the teams working on the initiative. But the software developer could also create a more refined MoSCoW structure that only focuses on their software-building priorities.
Project managers
For project managers, the MoSCoW approach is indispensable. Having a concrete outline before you assign work and tasks sets up the foundations for a smooth system of operation and tracking to the very end.
Marketers
Marketers can use the MoSCow technique to construct everything from full-scale brand and marketing strategies to smaller campaigns. They can also use it as a reference check and to manage expectations and priorities for a portfolio of clients.
Designers
Like marketers, designers often have competing priorities (multiple projects) with set deadlines and timeframes. Because the nature of design work is one where you can keep working for hours on-end, constantly improving the one piece, the MoSCoW technique comes in to rationalize and realign work to resource availability.
Keep in mind that this prioritization model is not limited to these professions. It can be used and applied to small or large tasks with an end goal. You could even use it to shortlist SaaS product vendors or to construct a personal career plan. Its simple structure makes it limitless in application. That’s what makes it so great.
Conclusion – Easier Prioritization With ActiveCollab
Prioritization methods, like the MoSCoW technique, simplify the decision-making process when determining the level of importance of each task in the project life cycle.
What sets it apart from other methods, such as the GTD Method and ABCDE Method, is its unique approach. Often, this makes it the perfect fit for processes and projects run by mid-size marketing or design agencies.
ActiveCollab makes planning and application of the MoSCoW method much easier as the platform itself highlights needs, blockers, and resource constraints.
Kanban board, Gantt charts, custom fields, labels, and task categorization will provide you with the ultimate overview. This makes the MoSCoW method categorization much smoother.
Our People & Resources and Business Health sections can help you clarify things that move between Should Have, Could Have, and Won’t Have. They can also help you prioritize these tasks faster because you can see and track resource allocation and use for each task. Having this kind of granular insight will help you determine what’s worth prioritizing and what isn’t.
ActiveCollab is tailored to support the fast-paced and creative workflows and processes of agency businesses. Enabling them to seamlessly manage complex projects the tool lets you track resource use, and prioritize tasks with precision.
But don’t take our word for it – try ActiveCollab's 14-day free trial to explore all the amazing features modern agencies use. If you’d like a guided tour, book a demo, and our team will walk you through the entire platform to show you how it can help you scale your business through better project management!
