Prioritizing a Backlog

Rank work items by impact and urgency using a framework — not gut feeling.

HARD-GATE

• Understand each item's impact and effort before scoring.
• Provide criteria for each dimension.
• Force relative ordering; avoid marking everything "high priority".
• Every ranking decision needs a stated reason.

Core Process

1. Receive ticket/feature list.
2. Detect or choose framework (RICE, MoSCoW, value-vs-effort, WSJF).
3. Score each item using the framework's dimensions (see Inline Scoring Criteria).
4. Order by score; break ties by strategic alignment or dependencies.
5. Flag items needing clarification or with dependency constraints.
6. Output ordered backlog.