Template 1: the impact-effort grid
| Low effort | High effort | |
|---|---|---|
| High impact | Do first — quick wins, this week | Plan — projects with an owner and a date |
| Low impact | Fill in — when time allows | Drop — or redesign to reduce effort |
Write each option on a note, place it, then read the top-left quadrant into the action list. Argue about placement, not about the grid.
Template 2: the weighted prioritisation matrix
| Option | Safety (w=10) | Customer (w=8) | Cost saving (w=6) | Ease (w=4) | Time to result (w=4) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option A | ||||||
| Option B | ||||||
| Option C | ||||||
| Option D |
Score each cell 1 (weak), 3 (moderate) or 9 (strong). Multiply by the weight, sum across the row, rank by total. Change the criteria and weights to your site's priorities before you start, and do not change them during scoring.
How do you run a prioritisation session?
- Bring the list: problems from the tier boards, ideas from the floor, a Pareto of the last quarter's issues.
- Agree the criteria and weights first, with the leader who owns the resources in the room.
- Score together, out loud, one option at a time. Disagreement is information; record it.
- Rank and sense-check. A surprising result means a weight is wrong or the option is misunderstood.
- Turn the top three to five into projects with owners and dates. Park the rest with a review date.
What are the common mistakes?
- Scoring alone and presenting the ranking, which produces an argument about the ranking rather than about the options.
- Too many criteria, so everything scores the same.
- Overriding the result quietly, which teaches the team that scoring is theatre.
- Never re-running it, so last year's priorities crowd out this month's red measure.
Prioritisation and daily management
The tier boards generate more problems than any team can work on. The Tier 2 meeting uses the matrix monthly to choose which become projects, the chosen projects appear on the board beside the measures they should move, and the matrix is re-run when a measure turns red that was not on the list.
Step by step
- Collect the options. Problems, ideas and projects from the boards and the Pareto of recent issues.
- Agree the criteria and weights. Three to six criteria that reflect the site's goals; weights fixed before scoring.
- Score together. 1, 3 or 9 per cell, out loud, one option at a time.
- Rank and sense-check. Sort by total; question surprises before accepting them.
- Convert the top items. Projects with owners and dates on the Tier 2 board; park the rest with a review date.
A worked example
A pharmaceutical packaging site had 23 improvement ideas and capacity for four projects. The Tier 2 team weighted deviation reduction at 10, line efficiency at 8, cost at 6 and ease at 4, then scored all 23 in a ninety-minute session. Two ideas that had been pushed by a senior manager scored low on every criterion and were parked without argument because the scoring was visible. The top four became A3 projects reviewed every Thursday.