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MoSCoW Prioritization Tool
Sort ideas into Must, Should, Could and Won't for one release, check the Musts leave room for surprises, and write down what is left out.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Prioritize product features Stage 4 of 5: what goes in this release, and what doesn't? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
The release
What could go in
One idea per line, with the effort for each in person-months. Up to 40.
Add ideas
Your plan never leaves your browser
Ideas, efforts and groups stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the effort in each group and the items' places in the list are sent to our server. How it works
Sort into groups
Basics go to Must, ideas waiting on a test to Won't, then the ranking fills Must to 60%, Should to 80% and Could to capacity.
The release
The Won't list, to share
Saying no out loud is what stops the same requests coming back every week. Share it with sales and support.
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of the release: each group with its effort, the Won't list, and the diagnosis.
About the tool
Why it exists
A ranking says what matters most. It doesn't say what fits
MoSCoW sorts ideas into four groups for one release: Must have (the release fails without it), Should have (important, but the release still works without it), Could have (the first thing to drop if time runs short) and Won't have this time.
Two rules keep it honest: keep the Musts to about 60% of the effort, so there is room for things to go wrong, and write the Won't list down and share it. This tool works on its own, and as stage 4 of our playbook for prioritizing product features, where it starts from the RICE ranking and the basics from the Kano sort. For the method, see our guide to MoSCoW.
The method
How the tool works
Capacity and effort. You give the team's capacity for the release and each idea's effort, both in person-months. In the playbook, efforts come from stage 3; stage 2's basics need theirs entered here.
A first sort, if you want one. It only fills the empty groups: basics go to Must, ideas waiting on a test to Won't (testing first), then the ranked ideas, in order, fill Must up to 60% of capacity, Should up to 80% and Could up to 100%. The rest go to Won't. Change any of it.
The checks. Musts over 60% of capacity, a plan over capacity, no Coulds left to drop, and a Must ranked below a Should or Could. Ideas that earlier stages left out join the Won't list with the reason.
What leaves your computer. Ideas, efforts and groups stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the effort in each group and the items' places in the list, and the server keeps nothing.