What is Project Prioritization?
Project prioritization is the process of determining the best order of completing projects based on importance, urgency, and impact. This is essential, as an organization will likely never have unlimited resources and time, therefore projects can’t all be completed at once but instead must have some order of priority. Project prioritization is essential to ensuring resources are focused on high-impact initiatives that align with organizational goals, optimize performance, and adapt to changing priorities. It’s a key part of helping organizations focus their resources on the most valuable initiatives and stay aligned with their goals. Done well, project prioritization ensures strategic alignment and delivers the best return on investment.
Why is Project Prioritization Important?
A PMI survey found that only 52% of projects met their original goals. That number increased to a 71% success rate when a culture of strategic focus on project management was in place. Further, the organizations with strategic project guidelines in place also wasted 13 times less money. With the right strategy, project prioritization can help you save money, allocate resources better, and reach company goals. You will always a mix of both urgent and important initiatives, but with a standardized criteria, you can create a north star for project success based on your overarching goals.
Guide for Effective Project Prioritization
- Define Your Goals and Criteria
Start by identifying your organization’s strategic objectives and the key criteria for prioritization. This strategy may already be defined by leadership. These may include factors like urgency, ROI, alignment with goals, or resource requirements. Clearly defining these criteria helps establish a consistent framework for evaluation. Determine how your project and product portfolios are performing in relation to company goals. Visualize projects against specific objectives and understand what it is costing to achieve them; drill in to identify issues. Rank and analyze investments by business drivers and create an optimized portfolio to drive strategic success. You can use portfolio modeling tools to rank and analyze investments by business drivers, leverage what-if scenarios to compare options, and create an optimized portfolio that drives strategic success. The key to effective prioritization is to define objective criteria that relies on data to leave subjective judgements out of decision making.
- Create a Comprehensive Project List
Gather all potential projects into a single, organized list. Include details such as scope, estimated costs, expected benefits, resource needs, and timelines to ensure all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the options. - Choose a Prioritization Framework to Rank Projects Against Criteria
Choose a prioritization framework to help rank your projects in a clear and consistent way. The goal is to compare projects based on what matters most as objectively as possible – like how well they align with your goals, how much impact they’ll have, or how much time and effort they’ll take. A good framework makes it easier to see what’s worth focusing on, what can wait, and what might not be worth doing at all. It’s a simple way to make smarter, more confident decisions. You may find it helpful to use a tool that helps you organize projects by their prioritization score.
Specify your prioritization drivers based on your business needs. OnePlan supports multiple portfolio prioritization methods and frameworks.
- Assess Resource Capacity & Bandwidth
Assess the availability of resources—such as budget, staff, and time—for each project. Understanding constraints helps identify which projects are feasible and whether adjustments or trade-offs are necessary. Ask questions like:- Who has the right skills for this project?
- Where are resources being over-allocated?
- Who has the time to take on more work?
If you find resource planning overwhelming, try using a tool with features like capacity planning, role-based planning, and what-if scenario modeling.
- Evaluate Scope, Timeline, and Cost of each project
This evaluation enables decision-makers to compare projects effectively, spot potential risks or constraints, and prioritize initiatives that offer the best balance between effort, resources, and strategic impact. - Engage Stakeholders
Collaborate with key stakeholders on your project prioritization criteria. Open communication ensures alignment, builds consensus, and fosters buy-in from those affected by project outcomes. - Review and Adjust Regularly
Revisit project priorities periodically to account for changes in business objectives, market conditions, and resource availability. Use data to inform any necessary adjustments as well as improvements for future projects. You may ask:- Does the project still align with current business objectives and long-term goals?
- Has the anticipated value or return on investment changed due to market conditions or internal factors?
- Is the project still on track to meet its deadlines, or do adjustments need to be made?
Insights from integrated tools like Power BI, Microsoft Teams, or Azure DevOps provide a unified project view. With OnePlan, this data is centralized and visually represented in dashboards, reports, and models, making it easier to analyze, prioritize, and make informed decisions that align with your strategic goals.
Benefits of Prioritizing Projects
- Effective Resource Allocation: Ensures limited resources are directed toward the most valuable and impactful projects.
- Minimized Waste: Reduces inefficiencies by focusing on initiatives that align with organizational goals.
- Informed Decision-Making: Empowers project managers to decide which projects to pursue, defer, or cancel based on clear priorities.
- Improved Success Rates: Increases the likelihood of project completion and success by focusing on high-priority initiatives.
- Enhanced Stakeholder Alignment: Manages expectations by demonstrating a clear, strategic approach to project selection and execution.
Prioritization Frameworks
Prioritization frameworks provide a structured approach to project prioritization. They help to ensure that all relevant factors are considered and that decisions are made consistently. The MoSCow method was originally created for product releases.
MoSCoW Method
Prioritizes projects or tasks into four categories: Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won’t have.
- Must have: These are your essentials – the non-negotiables. Without them, the project can’t work or be considered a success.
- Should have: These are important and make a big difference, but they’re not deal-breakers if you can’t fit them in right away.
- Could have: These are the “nice-to-haves.” They’re cool extras, but skipping them won’t hurt the project’s success.
- Won’t: These are things you agree to leave out for now. Maybe they’re not needed yet, or they don’t fit within your current timeline or budget.
Try customizing Kanban boards in OnePlan for visualizing projects by priority using Moscow.
Value vs Effort Matrix
This framework provides a straightforward way to prioritize projects or tasks by plotting them on a 2×2 matrix based on their value (impact, benefits, or ROI) and the effort (resources, time, or cost) required to complete them. Projects are categorized into four quadrants:
- Quick Wins: High value, low effort. These should be prioritized as they offer significant benefits with minimal investment.
- Major Projects: High value, high effort. These are worth pursuing but require careful planning and allocation of resources.
- Fill-Ins: Low value, low effort. These can be done when resources are available but are not critical.
- Time Wasters: Low value, high effort. These should generally be avoided unless circumstances change.
This matrix helps teams focus on initiatives that deliver maximum impact while minimizing wasted resources.
Kano Model
The Kano Model is a customer-centric prioritization framework that evaluates features or projects based on their impact on customer satisfaction. It classifies items into three categories:
- Basic Needs: These are non-negotiable features or elements that customers expect. If missing, they lead to dissatisfaction, but their presence doesn’t significantly increase satisfaction.
- Performance Features: These have a linear relationship with customer satisfaction. The better they are executed, the more satisfied the customer will be.
- Delighters: These are unexpected features or innovations that exceed customer expectations and create excitement and loyalty.
By distinguishing between these categories, the Kano Model helps organizations focus on essential features while identifying opportunities to delight customers and outperform competitors.
Scoring Model
The Scoring Model uses criteria to assign scores to projects, enabling objective comparisons and a project prioritization system. Criteria may include strategic alignment, ROI, risk, resource requirements, and urgency. Each criterion is scored individually, and the total score determines the priority.
- Customization: The criteria and weights can be tailored to align with an organization’s goals or strategic objectives.
- Objectivity: By quantifying and comparing projects, this model reduces bias and ensures that decisions are data-driven.
- Repeatability: Once established, the scoring model can be consistently applied to evaluate future projects.
This framework is particularly useful for organizations with numerous competing projects, as it provides a clear and systematic way to decide which ones to prioritize.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Prioritizing Projects
When prioritizing projects, it’s easy to fall into a few common traps. A lack of clear criteria can lead to confusion and subjective decision-making, making it hard to focus on what truly matters. Overlooking project dependencies can disrupt timelines and create bottlenecks, slowing progress across the board. Additionally, overloading your team with too many high-priority tasks can lead to burnout and reduced efficiency. Avoiding these pitfalls ensures a smoother project prioritization method and process and sets your projects up for success.
Prioritizing Projects: What to Look for in Portfolio Modeling Tools
Finding a project management tool tool that tackles all of your project prioritization in one place can be extremely helpful. Here are a few key features to look for when it comes to portfolio modeling.
Strategic Alignment
Choose a tool that helps you align projects with your organization’s goals. This ensures you’re investing in initiatives that drive the most value and support long-term success.
Financial Planning
A tool that integrates budget tracking and financial forecasts helps you prioritize projects based on both costs and expected ROI.
Data-Driven Insights
Built-in analytics and reporting features like OnePlan’s AI-powered assistant, SofiaGPT help you make informed decisions by providing a clear view of project performance and alignment with business objectives.
An effective project prioritization process can transform the way your organization achieves goals, ultimately driving greater efficiency, profitability, and long-term business success.
