prioritization-effort-impact

# Prioritization: Effort-Impact Matrix

## Table of Contents
1. [Purpose](#purpose)
2. [When to Use](#when-to-use)
3. [What Is It?](#what-is-it)
4. [Workflow](#workflow)
5. [Common Patterns](#common-patterns)
6. [Scoring Frameworks](#scoring-frameworks)
7. [Guardrails](#guardrails)
8. [Quick Reference](#quick-reference)

## Purpose

Transform overwhelming backlogs and option lists into clear, actionable priorities by mapping items on a 2x2 matrix of effort (cost/complexity) vs impact (value/benefit). Identify quick wins (high impact, low effort) and distinguish them from big bets (high impact, high effort), time sinks (low impact, high effort), and fill-ins (low impact, low effort).

## When to Use

**Use this skill when:**

- **Backlog overflow**: You have 20+ items (features, bugs, tasks, ideas) and need to decide execution order
- **Resource constraints**: Limited time, budget, or people force trade-off decisions
- **Strategic planning**: Choosing between initiatives, projects, or investments for quarterly/annual roadmaps
- **Quick wins needed**: Stakeholders want visible progress fast; you need high-impact low-effort items
- **Trade-off clarity**: Team debates "should we do A or B?" without explicit effort/impact comparison
- **Alignment gaps**: Different stakeholders (eng, product, sales, exec) have conflicting priorities
- **Context switching**: Too many simultaneous projects; need to focus on what matters most
- **New PM/leader**: Taking over a backlog and need systematic prioritization approach

**Common triggers:**
- "We have 50 feature requests, where do we start?"
- "What are the quick wins?"
- "Should we do the migration or the new feature first?"
- "How do we prioritize technical debt vs new features?"
- "What gives us the most bang for our buck?"

## What Is It?

**Effort-Impact Matrix** (also called Impact-Effort Matrix, Quick Wins Matrix, or 2x2 Prioritization) plots each item on two dimensions:

- **X-axis: Effort** (time, cost, complexity, risk, de