3x3 Prioritization Method Template
Help your team prioritize features and business ideas based on customer impact and effort. Group initiatives to work on next and in the future.
About the 3x3 Prioritization Method Template
The 3x3 Prioritization Method Template, or action priority matrix, helps teams prioritize features and initiatives based on their user impact and the level of effort needed for success. It offers a new level of detail that the 2x2 Prioritization Matrix (or Lean Prioritization Method) may lack.
With nine “buckets” or areas of interest, your team can quickly decide if an idea or feature is low, medium, or high effort. The team can also accordingly decide if the idea or feature will likely have low, medium, or high impact.
As a visual tool, 3x3 prioritization helps teams promptly reach an agreement on quick wins, big projects, filler tasks, or anything that could waste time.
What is the 3x3 prioritization method?
The 3x3 prioritization method is a visual representation of where teams should allocate their time and resources. There are typically 4 quadrants in a 3x3 prioritization method matrix:
Quick wins: actions fundamental to team success that lead to the best return on effort and should be prioritized before anything else.
Major projects: complex actions with long-term return on effort, best if selectively chosen and efficiently executed.
Filler activities: everyday tasks that can easily be deprioritized.
Time sucks: activities too time-consuming that can be delegated or avoided.
This matrix is adaptable for use during daily team stand-ups, or for strategic action plans or Agile sprint planning.
When to use the 3x3 prioritization method
This prioritization approach can help product managers and cross-functional teams:
Quickly determine what activities or ideas to focus on
Make the most of limited resources
Reflect on strategies and goals without wasting time or effort
Align priorities and sync up on solutions to any problems discussed
The framework can be started by a team lead, who then invites other team members to offer feedback and add ideas to the four quadrants as needed.
Create your own 3x3 prioritization matrix
Making your own 3x3 prioritization matrix is easy. Miro’s is the perfect tool to create and share it. Get started by selecting the 3x3 Prioritization Method Template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.
Decide on a clear objective for your impact effort analysis. Ask your team whether that objective should be strategic, tactical, project-related, product- or service-related, or personal (in terms of development or team growth). Have a clear scope or time frame in mind, too – are you planning for days, weeks, months, or over a year?
Brainstorm what you need to achieve those objectives. Examples of needs driven by this framework can include prioritizing actions from a planning session, developing priorities for a project team, establishing milestones for an employee’s performance plan, or prioritizing features to focus on from a product backlog.
Collect and refine your team ideas. Everyone can draft their ideas or contributions on sticky notes. Then, refine them with a live call or video chat feedback as needed.
Position your ideas according to impact and effort. Encourage everyone to assess where their idea fits on the quadrant, and move it accordingly: is it a quick win, major project, filler idea, or time suck?
Create an action plan with the next steps. Do specific team members need to test an idea’s validity? Schedule a follow-up meeting? Clarify impact and effort? Remember, value can be defined as qualitative (low to high) or quantitative (by a numbered scale, currency, time spent, or volume of output).
Share the outcome with anyone who couldn’t attend the session. Invite team members, clients, or stakeholders through Slack, email, or a public or private hyperlink as needed so that everyone can catch up on the details.
Get started with this template right now.
Six Thinking Hats Template
Works best for:
Ideation, Brainstorming
The Six Thinking Hats by Dr. Edward de Bono was created as an alternative to argument, it is designed to help teams explore and develop ideas collaboratively. Use this template to boost creative thinking and get different perspectives so you and your team can make better-informed decisions.
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.
SOAR Analysis Template
Works best for:
Leadership, Decision Making, Strategic Planning
The SOAR Analysis template prompts you to consider your organization’s strengths and potential to create a shared vision of the future. The SOAR Analysis is unique in that it encourages you to focus on the positive rather than solely identifying areas for growth. SOAR stands for Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. To use the template, examine each category through a positive lens. Perform a SOAR Analysis whenever you want to bring people together and encourage action.
Project Scope Template
Works best for:
Project Management, Decision Making, Project Planning
A project scope helps you plan and confirm your project’s goals, deliverables, features, functions, tasks, costs, and deadlines. A project manager and team should develop a project scope as early as possible, as it will directly influence both the schedule and cost of a project as it progresses. Though project scopes will vary depending on your team and objectives, they generally include goals, requirements, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. Aim to include the whole team when you create a project scope to ensure everyone is aligned on responsibilities and deadlines.
Pros and Cons List Template
Works best for:
Decision Making, Documentation, Strategic Planning
A pros and cons list is a simple but powerful decision-making tool used to help understand both sides of an argument. Pros are listed as arguments in favor of making a particular decision or action. Cons are listed arguments against it. By creating a list that details both sides of the argument, it becomes easier to visualize the potential impact of your decision. To make your pros and cons list even more objective, it can help to weight each pro and con against the others. You can then present your decision with confidence, making a strong argument for why it’s the right one.
How Now Wow Matrix Template
Works best for:
Ideation, Product Management, Prioritization
There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm — but some are more original and easier to implement. The How Now Wow matrix is a tool that helps you identify and organize those great ideas, as well as reinvigorates your team to think creatively and take risks (a taller order as you scale). Grab this template to create your own matrix, then rank the ideas you generated in a brainstorm as “How” (difficult to implement), “Now” (easy to implement), or “Wow” (both original and easy to implement).