Replace your 2x2 Impact vs. Effort Matrix!
This article is a companion to “6 Major Flaws that make the Impact vs. Effort Matrix Obsolete”
By now, you should have already torn up your old Impact vs. Effort Matrix. You should be aware of the 6 flaws that make it misleading, dangerous, and wasteful. And you should be ready for a fresh visual aid that doesn’t share those flaws.
I strongly suggest you read through the original article before proceeding, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the 2x2 Matrix in the first place. If you’ve already read it, or are familiar with the gist of the 2x2 matrix and are just looking for a great new way to visualize prioritization then read on.
Building a more Effective Visualization
In the previous article we learned how the classic 2x2 Impact vs. Effort Matrix, such as those found on ProductPlan, MindTheProduct, Monday.com, and SixSigmaDaily, misrepresents priority, ignores negative impacts, and is arbitrarily mutated in ways that strip it of value. It may seem like this is the end for the exercise of charting ideas on a whiteboard with your team as a collaborative activity to help understand priority.
Thankfully, all is not lost for Impact vs. Effort charts. We can still create an effective visualization that uses effort and impact as its core axes, while removing unhelpful biases. We can do most of the same steps in a collaborative exercise to create that chart. And, it can be a much more powerful, consistent tool for us to set and communicate priorities.
With our updated chart, our visual priority sections are actually more like slices of a pie, rather than neat squares as in the 2x2 Matrix. We also acknowledge the negative value space. To create this chart and perform the same ideation exercises, follow these steps.
Diagram #1: Base Chart for Impact vs. Effort Prioritization Exercises.
Step 1: Draw the chart. The impact line should be on the left and has arrows both up and down. This ensures we are aware our chart is unbounded. The effort line will be perpendicular to the impact line and about ¼ of the way up the impact line. We want most of our space focused on the positive impact area. Charting items we expect to have a negative impact means we won’t lose track of them, and can revisit them later if we find ways of reducing the effort involved. You may recall that impact is often dependent on effort, and so reducing effort may increase impact.
Step 2: Add your ideas to the board with your team. You use relative placements to ask whether each individual item is bigger or smaller than another. Or, you might use known value and effort estimates. We tackle this before segmenting the chart to avoid any pre-conditioning and resulting biases.
Diagram #2: Chart w/ Ideas and dividing lines
Step 3: Split the chart by drawing 3 lines. First draw a line that bisects the effort and impact lines, starting from where the lines met. Then bisect each of the two new resulting sections.
Diagram #3: Corrected Impact vs. Effort Prioritization Chart. Alphabetized by priority order.
Step 4: Label the sections, rotating from the top left to the bottom right as follows.
“Highest Return, Do First.”
“Strong Candidates, Do Second.”
“Valuable Fillers, Do Third.”
“Risky Chaff, Be Cautious.”
And for the bottom section, label that “Money Pit”
Step 5: If you used numerical estimates, move your calculations to a scorecard and order your ideas by priority score. Reminder: Priority score is your impact divided by effort. If you added items in an ad-hoc manner, take a string, ruler, or some other vaguely straight instrument and rotate it clockwise from the top left to the bottom right keeping the bottom left at the intersection of the value and effort axes. Write down each idea as you cross it, in the order you cross it. This is your prioritized list.
| Idea | Impact | Effort | Priority Score | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idea A | 4 | .5 | 8 | 1 |
| Idea B | 8 | 3 | 2.67 | 2 |
| Idea C | 5 | 3.5 | 1.43 | 3 |
| Idea D | 7.5 | 6.5 | 1.15 | 4 |
| Idea E | 2.5 | 3 | 0.83 | 5 |
| Idea F | 7.5 | 9 | 0.83 | 6 |
| Idea G | 1 | 4 | 0.25 | 7 |
| Idea H | 1.5 | 8.5 | 0.176 | 8 |
| Idea * | -2 | 7 | -3.5 | - |
Don’t be tempted to move ideas around too much. Your data is your data and your results are your results. Manipulating it now is more likely to inject bias simply to fit preconceptions rather than making your chart more correct. Garbage in leads to garbage out, as they say.
Breaking Ties
Most teams, especially start ups, should tie-break by choosing the smaller effort item at the same priority score because it has an earlier return and that’s usually very good for startups - and frankly, good for business teams who need to build trust and de-risk.
Reminder: Your priority score is determined by your impact metric divided by your effort metric. It is the slope of a line extending from the zero impact, zero effort point through your idea and all other ideas on that line.
If we put ideas E and F from Diagram #2 onto the original matrix and follow the standard guidance for the 2x2, we would do F then E. But that decision simply stresses your runway (budget) and executive’s trust in your ability to deliver. Patience or money eventually runs out on big projects.
Instead, decide by slope first and scale second. This would mean E, then F in Diagram #2. This decision will build trust or extend your runaway. And, it will keep you and your team in business long enough to make the bigger bet next.
Wrapping it up
So, there it is, a brand new way to visualize priority using the same exercise as the 2x2 Impact Effort Matrix. You avoided the “6 Major Flaws that make the Impact vs. Effort Matrix Obsolete” <insert link>, and produced a chart that’s easy to understand and interpret. Bonus, your priorities here will match your calculated priorities too!
Now Go! Make better decisions with your teams!
References
ProductPlan Post on 2x2 Matrix
ProductPlan. "2x2 Prioritization Matrix." ProductPlan, 2023, https://www.productplan.com/glossary/2x2-prioritization-matrix/.MindTheProduct Post on the 2x2 Matrix
Wicks, Andy. "Enter the Matrix - Lean Prioritisation." Mind the Product, 2017, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/enter-matrix-lean-prioritisation/.Monday.com post on Impact vs. Effort Matrix
All of us at monday.com. “How an impact effort matrix can help you prioritize tasks” Monday.com, 2022, https://monday.com/blog/project-management/impact-effort-matrix/SixSigma Daily Post on Impact vs. Effort Matrix
Six Sigma Daily. (2023, May 18). How to use the impact effort matrix. Retrieved from https://www.sixsigmadaily.com/how-to-use-the-impact-effort-matrix/
