FreeNo sign-upYour backlog stays on your computer

Feature Prioritization Tool

Turn a long backlog into a release that fits: cut the ideas that don't serve what customers are trying to get done, rank the rest, fit them to your capacity, and order them along the user's journey. Five stages, ending with release slices and a full report.

Take the 10-minute guided tour Start at stage 1 Already have a ranked list? Start at stage 4

The tour runs all five stages on an example invoicing app. Nothing in it touches your own work. Allow three to five weeks in all: most of it goes on customer conversations and the survey, not on the tools.

Example report (PDF)

Five stages, in order

Each stage asks one question and hands its answer to the next. You can stop after any stage: save your progress file, and pick up later on any computer. The feature prioritization playbook explains the method behind each one.

  1. Stage 1 of 5 · Jobs to Be Done

    What are customers trying to get done?

    1 to 2 weeks

    You bring
    Conversations about the last time customers used the product for something that mattered, and your backlog: pasted, or a CSV from Jira, Trello or a spreadsheet.
    You get
    The job, written as customers put it, and a backlog cut down to the ideas that serve it.

    How Jobs to Be Done worksUse the Jobs to Be Done tool on its own

  2. Stage 2 of 5 · Kano Model

    Which features matter, and how?

    1 to 2 weeks

    You bring
    Two questions about each idea in a short customer survey, or the team's best answer as the quick option.
    You get
    Each idea sorted by how it affects satisfaction, with any basic that fails today set to be fixed first.

    How the Kano Model worksUse the Kano tool on its own

  3. Stage 3 of 5 · RICE Score

    Which ideas give the most for the effort?

    2 to 3 days

    You bring
    Four estimates for each idea: reach from usage data, impact and confidence from what you know, effort from the people who will build it.
    You get
    A ranked list, with the scores that rest on a guess marked for testing.

    How RICE worksUse the RICE tool on its own

  4. Stage 4 of 5 · MoSCoW

    What goes in this release?

    Half a day

    You bring
    The team's capacity for the release, in person-months, design and testing included.
    You get
    A release that fits, sorted into Must, Should, Could and Won't, with room left for surprises.

    How MoSCoW worksUse the MoSCoW tool on its own

  5. Stage 5 of 5 · User story map

    In what order do users get it?

    1 day

    You bring
    An hour or two with design and engineering, to lay the release along the user's journey.
    You get
    Release slices a user can walk end to end, so the first one is usable on day one.

    How user story mapping worksUse the story map tool on its own

What you finish with

Page 1 of the example report: the five stages at a glance A stage diagnosis: which features matter, and how The story map, with its release slices

From the guided tour: a software company in Istanbul whose invoicing app 4,000 small businesses pay for.

Download the example report (PDF, 7 pages)

A PDF report of the whole playbook. One headline for each stage, as in the example, then each stage's diagnosis: what it found, what that means, and what to do next. It ends with the story map and its release slices.

A progress file you keep. An Excel workbook with a sheet for every stage, updated each time you save. It is also how you come back: choose it on this page or on any stage, and the playbook reopens where you left off.

Checks along the way. A basic that fails today goes first, outside the ranking; a top idea that rests on a guess is tested before it is built; and Musts that take more than 60% of capacity are moved down.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. There is no sign-up. The PDF report asks for an email address; everything else works without one.

Where does my backlog go?

Your ideas, notes and estimates stay in your browser and in the progress file you download. To write each stage's diagnosis, the page sends our server only counts, scores and the places of items in your lists, never the ideas themselves.

Do I have to do all five stages?

No. Each stage also works on its own, from the tools page. If you already have a ranked list, start at stage 4 to cut a release.

Can several people work on it?

Yes, by passing the progress file. Save it after a stage, send it to a colleague, and they choose it on this page to carry on from there.

How is this different from the playbook article?

The article explains the method and follows one company through it. The tool runs the same five stages on your own backlog, and writes the diagnosis at each one.