MoSCoW Matrix Template
Organize deliverables in a matrix to assess their significance to your team's projects.
About the MoSCoW Matrix Template
When you’re working on a project with a lot of deliverables, it can be difficult to track priorities. And as deadlines approach, sometimes priorities can shift, further complicating your workflow. How can you keep track of evolving priorities and still focus on a complex project?
What is the MoSCoW method?
The MoSCoW method is a powerful technique for tracking priorities, which are categorized and placed in a matrix model. Project managers, product developers, and business analysts use the matrix to align their teams when working through a set of project deliverables. Teams collaborate with stakeholders to analyze and rank the importance of deliverables with MoSCoW, making it easier to stay on track.
MoSCoW is an acronym for Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Won’t Have. These four priority categories make up the four segments in the matrix. “Must Have” items are necessary for delivery; “Should Have” items are important but not necessary; “Could Have” items are nice to have (they are not priorities, but your team can work on them if time and resources permit); and “Won’t Have” items do not fit into the scope of the current project. To use MoSCoW, you create four category segments showing your current priorities and their status (Complete, In Progress, or Not Yet Started).
When to use the MoSCoW method
The MoSCoW method is useful whenever you need to present business needs to an audience, assess priorities, and collaborate on impending deliverables with a group of stakeholders. By drawing and updating the matrix, you can get a snapshot of your priorities and their impact at each stage of a project. MoSCoW allows everyone on your team to easily grasp upcoming tasks and their impact on your timeline.
Create your own MoSCoW matrix
Making your own MoSCoW matrix is easy. Miro comes with the perfect canvas to create and share it. Get started by selecting the MoSCoW matrix template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.
Fill in your must-haves. The MoSCoW matrix is divided into four categories. The first is Must Haves, the items that are necessary for completion of your project. If you’re unsure whether a task is a Must-have, ask yourself the following questions: If you do not complete this task, will your product or service work as intended? Can you still deliver the product without this item? Does this task allow you to fulfill all legal requirements for your project? Will your product or service be safe without it? Will your customer suffer consequences if you fail to complete this task?
Fill in your should-haves. Next, move on to the items that are not necessary to complete your project but are still important for success. Remember, the items in this category are not vital, but you should try and incorporate them into your timeline anyway. If you’re unsure, ask yourself: Although it might be painful not to complete this task, could you still ship the product without it? Can you use a workaround to avoid this task?
Fill in your could-haves. Many teams colloquially refer to these items as “nice-to-haves.” While they might make the service run more smoothly or make your product look better, these tasks are not important. If you have the time or resources to complete them at the end, then you can do so. If not, you can plan to do them later. To fill out this part of the matrix, ask yourself the following questions: What are the benefits of these tasks? Do they outweigh the costs? How will these tasks impact our timeline? Can we still complete the project on time and within budget if we include these tasks?
Fill out your won’t-haves. These items are outside the scope of your current project. Maybe you don’t have the budget to complete them, or maybe they don’t fit into your timeline. If you’re not quite sure whether something is a Won’t Have, ask yourself: How does this item impact our budget? Does our team have the bandwidth to complete this task? Will this item have a tangible impact on our customers? No one likes to admit that they can’t complete something, but don’t think of Won’t Haves as failures; they’re projects for another day.
How do you use the MoSCow template?
The MoSCoW acronym (excluding the o's) is carved with the first letters of the priority categories it works with. These are Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves and Won't-haves. And that's how you can define which task falls into which category.
What are the benefits of using the MoSCow method?
The key benefits of the MoSCoW technique are that it's quick and easy to use. The technique is good for highlighting the priorities of projects that are in progress and for organizing efficient time management.
Get started with this template right now.
Market Segmentation Matrix Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Strategic Planning, Product Management
Successful, compelling marketing begins and ends with knowing your audience — who they are, where they are, and what they want and expect. A market segmentation matrix will help you understand them on a deeper level. This business tool divides your target market into subsets based on demographics, geography, needs, interests, psychographics, or behavioral characteristics. You can then use these insights and data to hit it out of the park, by building better product, sales, and marketing strategies. Our template lets you set up and populate a Market Segmentation Matrix with ease.
Market Segmentation Matrix Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Strategic Planning, Product Management
Successful, compelling marketing begins and ends with knowing your audience — who they are, where they are, and what they want and expect. A market segmentation matrix will help you understand them on a deeper level. This business tool divides your target market into subsets based on demographics, geography, needs, interests, psychographics, or behavioral characteristics. You can then use these insights and data to hit it out of the park, by building better product, sales, and marketing strategies. Our template lets you set up and populate a Market Segmentation Matrix with ease.
Event Planning Template
Works best for:
Planning, Workshops
Whether you’re planning a product launch, fully remote conference, or milestone event, the Event Planning Template will act as a visual checklist and map for all the details you need to consider before the big day. The Event Planning Template is an adaptable way to make sure the creative and strategic vision of your event doesn’t get lost in the details. By mapping out different sections - from the marketing plan, to the agenda, to snacks and swag for guests — you and your team can focus on the details most important to your functions, and collaborate as needed when overlaps occur.
Priority Matrix Template
Works best for:
Business Management, Strategic Planning, Prioritization
If you need a little more than a basic to-do list, then you’d probably benefit from a Priority Matrix. The Priority Matrix template is designed to help you determine which tasks are critical so you can focus on the most urgent needs. In a 2x2 matrix, input your priorities based on whether they must be completed with high or low urgency and are of high or low importance. Applicable to project management and personal management alike, use the Priority Matrix template to improve business processes, create efficiency, remove blockers, and reduce operational waste.
SMART Goals Template
Works best for:
Prioritization, Strategic Planning, Project Management
Setting goals can be encouraging, but can also be overwhelming. It can be hard to conceptualize every step you need to take to achieve a goal, which makes it easy to set goals that are too broad or too much of a stretch. SMART is a framework that allows you to establish goals in a way that sets you up for success. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. If you keep these attributes in mind whenever you set goals, then you’ll ensure your objectives are clear and reachable. Your team can use the SMART model anytime you want to set goals. You can also use SMART whenever you want to reevaluate and refine those goals.
Lean Inception Workshop
Works best for:
Agile, Lean Methodology
The Lean Inception Workshop streamlines project kickoff by aligning teams on goals, scope, and priorities. It leverages Lean principles to eliminate waste and maximize value, guiding exercises to define user personas, map user journeys, and prioritize features. By fostering cross-functional collaboration and customer-centric thinking, this template accelerates project initiation and ensures alignment between stakeholders, empowering teams to deliver customer value faster.