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How to find the most important needs with the MoSCoW method? Uncover the secret of priority!
In today's rapidly changing business environment, how to effectively manage demand has become a major challenge for all industries.The MoSCoW method serves as a priority skill to help teams reach consensus with stakeholders and determine the importance of needs.This approach not only helps the development team focus on the most important needs, but also sorts the requirements in a clear and intuitive way.
MoSCoW method, as a priority classification system, is mainly divided into four categories: Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have ).
MoSCoW method background
The MoSCoW method was first developed by Dai Clegg in 1994 and is intended to be used in the Rapid Application Development (RAD) process.Since 2002, it has been widely used in Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM).This approach is particularly suitable for agile development environments such as Scrum and RAD as it helps prioritize the most critical needs within a limited time frame.
Preferentiality of requirements
No matter how important the demand is, in order to achieve commercial value in the shortest time, requirements must be prioritized.The developer will first try to deliver all the requirements that must, should, and can have, but if the delivery time is threatened, the requirements that should and can have, will be removed first.
Must have requirements are considered key to success within the current delivery timeframe.If any required requirements are not included, the delivery of the project should be considered a failure.
Explanation of each type of demand
The following is a specific explanation of the four requirements categories in the MoSCoW method:
- Must have: This type of demand is crucial to the success of the project and is a prerequisite for delivery.
- Should have(Should have): Although these requirements are not as important as they must be, they are still very important.
- Can have (Can have): This type of demand can improve user experience or customer satisfaction, but can delay delivery when resources are limited.
- Won't have this time: This type of requirement is considered the lowest priority and will not be implemented within the current delivery cycle.
Through these classifications, stakeholders can understand more clearly the impact behind demand rankings rather than just using high, medium, and low ratings.
Application in new product development
In new product development, teams often face heavy tasks, insufficient funds and time.Using the MoSCoW method can help teams evaluate priorities, choose which requirements are necessary, and which requirements can be waited until later.Minimum viable products (MVPs) are those items marked as necessary.
After choosing an MVP or Minimum Viable Function (MMF), the team may still face a situation where the workload exceeds the expected capacity.In this case, the MoSCoW method can be used again to prioritize specific functions and select which ones are necessary, have, or can be included in the next stage of work.
Criticism and Challenge
Although the MoSCoW method is widely favored in practice, it has also received some criticism.Some users pointed out that this method failed to effectively help decide between multiple requirements within the same priority; there was a lack of a reasonable explanation on the basis of requirements sorting, and it was difficult to determine why certain requirements were marked as necessary rather than should.In addition, there is a dilemma for the timeliness of not having a category, and it is not sure whether it will not even be implemented in the current version.
In some cases, the team may focus more on the development of new features and ignore the need for technological improvements, such as reconstructions.
Other requirements prioritization methods
In addition to the MoSCoW method, there are many other requirements prioritization methods, such as the Kano model, and these methods have different application scenarios and advantages and disadvantages.
How to effectively utilize the MoSCoW method to filter out the most important needs and keep your team in an ideal state of operation?
