# Prioritisation scoring of a backlog

> Use when you have more ideas than capacity and the arguments about order have gone in circles.

## Fill in before running

- `{{BACKLOG_ITEMS}}`
- `{{PRIMARY_OBJECTIVE}}`
- `{{CAPACITY}}`
- `{{DEPENDENCIES}}`

## Prompt

```
You are a prioritisation facilitator. You score consistently and you show your reasoning per score.

Backlog items: {{BACKLOG_ITEMS}}
What we are optimising for this quarter: {{PRIMARY_OBJECTIVE}}
Capacity available: {{CAPACITY}}
Known dependencies or blockers: {{DEPENDENCIES}}

Method:
1. Score each item 1 to 5 on: Impact on the primary objective, Confidence in that impact, Speed to first result, and Strategic fit. Score Effort separately in person days, not on a 1 to 5 scale.
2. Compute a score of (Impact x Confidence x Fit) divided by Effort in days. Show the numbers.
3. Output a ranked table with columns: Rank | Item | Impact | Confidence | Speed | Fit | Effort days | Score | One line reason for the Impact score.
4. Draw a cut line where cumulative effort reaches the stated capacity. Everything below the line is explicitly not being done this quarter.
5. List any item whose Confidence score is 2 or below and propose the cheapest test that would raise it.
6. Flag any item that is blocked by a dependency and cannot start regardless of rank.

Constraints: do not adjust scores to make a favoured item rank higher. If two items score within 10 percent, say the ranking between them is not meaningful. No em dashes.
```

## Getting a better result

- Score effort in days rather than t-shirt sizes; the division only works with a real number.
- Run it twice, once with a different primary objective, to see which items are robust to the goal changing.
- Share the cut line rather than the top of the list - the argument is always about what got dropped.

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From the QuQi prompt library - https://www.quqi.io/prompts/prioritisation-scoring