All You Need To Know About MoSCoW Analysis

The MoSCoW method is a simple, yet powerful tool to prioritize your backlog. Typically, you would use it when the backlog contains hordes of tasks to make sure only the most important tasks are worked upon. And that’s exactly why this method is so powerful! Throughput significantly increases when there are just a few highest priority items in your backlog.

The name comes from the first letters of the words that represent how you should treat items on your backlog:

M – Main – High priority. These are the things that got accepted to be developed for this sprint / release / project / etc… Always select at least one item from this category if you can’t do everything you want.

S – Scale down scope – If you didn’t manage to finish all items from the Main category, start with these ones (they are still high priority though). If something higher priority comes up during the Sprint planning meeting it will be selected over these.

C – Custom – Select only if nothing else fits. This is where your “nice-to-haves” go. If you don’t have anything else to select, the last resort is selecting items from this category – they’ll just get done if there’s time left after finishing all higher priority items (let’s hope that doesn’t happen!).

D – Delegate – These are the things that others can do for you. Maybe because of technical limitations or something else, but these cannot be developed by your team (at least not at this point). At some point you might need to re-evaluate these and move them back up in priority if needed. An example could be outsourcing artwork for your game, since the current artist isn’t available anymore.

E – Eliminate – Just get rid of them! Tasks can always be eliminated or optimised later, but it’s important to have a clear view on what needs to be done right away.

S – Schedule – Now you know where all your time is spent each iteration and can plan ahead for the next iteration. It might still take some iterations to get the right balance now that everyone knows that this is how things are now, but it’s just a matter of practice now!

H – Hierarchy – Keep the list in order of highest priority first. But remember, this is not set in stone. If another task pops up which should have higher priority because it got unblocked, go for it! Don’t forget to update everything after though…

U – Update – As said before , keep your list of tasks updated to know what is getting done. If you are one of those lucky people who still have time for that, keep the list up-to-date on how much work each task takes .

T – Task Dependencies – Use parent tasks and sub-tasks to define dependencies between your tasks.

MoSCoW Analysis is required for product development and complex projects. Prioritize Tasks – When you have a list of tasks from your project manager, go through the tasks and prioritize them based on MoSCoW Analysis . You need a good relationship with your product owner or project manager to get information about new features or requirements that come up during a sprint.

Update your Task List – When receiving new tasks, add them to your task list and give them a priority according to their importance for this sprint. If you finish early, move the tasks higher in the list so more important items are done first! Don’t forget to remove finished work from the list as well…

Remember Things Done – Remember what you have accomplished , so you don’t waste time doing it again. The stakeholder’s demands may change over time, so document how you have done something, to make it easy for everyone involved .

Remember Things Not Done – Document the things that haven’t been finished yet and move them up in your priority list. The more work is delayed, the harder it will be to pick up again later! Make sure you understand tasks before moving them to this section…

Resuscitate Tasks – Decide what has to happen if a task won’t be finished during this sprint. Can you split the task into smaller ones? Can someone else (or another team) finish it? What happens if we don’t do anything about this for now and we’ll see what we can do next sprint? Is there a way we can help to get things started? You can also reconsider the priority of this task if it turns out you really need to do something about it.

Tasks for Next Sprint – Write your tasks which you’ll try to fit into the next sprint, together with requirements and ideas what can make them easier (or harder) to fit them in. If necessary, split large tasks into smaller ones or ask someone else for help.

Time Slot for Reflection – Set aside some time during the next sprint retrospective where you will discuss what has been written here. This is not a discussion! Talk about anything that was helpful or worked well during the last sprint, mention everything that would be great to improve, but save all questions and discussions until later.