Top Requirements Prioritizing Techniques and Tips

Requirements Prioritization


The importance of needs and the order in which they should be fulfilled are determined by prioritization. It assures that the most important components of the project are prioritized first and everyone is aware of that and in agreement with what those components are.

In this article, we’ll discuss major factors, techniques, and tips that can help to prioritize your requirements properly.


Major Factors Affecting the Prioritization of Requirement

  • Benefit: It is the reward that the company or organization gains by implementing the requirement. The benefits of meeting a certain requirement using resources efficiently in terms of quality, price, time, supplies, etc.
  • Time Sensitivity: The time limit is typically the most crucial factor for prioritizing requirements. The deadline for the requirement must be specified, alongside whether the task is seasonal.
  • Cost: It is the time and resources needed to put a requirement into reality. Cost refers to finance, labor or technology.
  • Penalty: It is the result of failing to comply with an obligation. The project and the end result may fail if important needs are not given top/high priority. It could be used to describe a product’s poor usability, loss in regulatory fines, or low consumer satisfaction.
  • Stability: It refers to the possibility that the requirement won’t change.
  • Risk: It is the possibility that the requirement won’t provide the expected value. This might be for a number of reasons, from finding it difficult to grasp the necessity of actually putting it into action.
  • Dependencies: It is how requirements relate to one another. The completion of one need necessitates the fulfillment of another, and so on.

Techniques For Prioritizing Requirements

1. Ranking

The ranking method uses an ordinal scale, giving each one a distinct numerical value based on how relevant the requirement is. The most important requirement can be represented by the number 1, and the least important by the n. This approach works best when dealing with a single stakeholder because it could be challenging to coordinate the perspectives of numerous stakeholders.

2. The MoScoW Method

This method uses the priority categories MUST, SHOULD, COULD, and WON’T. Using this method, stakeholders can evaluate needs cooperatively. The MoSCoW methodology works better than a numerical rating system because it is simpler for stakeholders to rank requirements as Must, Should, Could, or Would.

3. Bubbles Sort Techniques

Using the bubble sort technique, you compare two demands side by side to determine their relative importance. If you find that one requirement is more important than the other, you can switch them. You keep doing this until the very last necessity has been met to your satisfaction. A list of needs with a priority order is the ultimate outcome.

4. Five Whys

Using the five whys technique, the analyst should ask the stakeholder five or fewer times why the demand is essential before the importance of the needs is identified. The responses reveal whether a requirement is actually required or whether it can be postponed or eliminated after the priority has been determined.


Tips for Prioritizing Requirements

  • Identify the issues that you are currently attempting to address.

Learn as much as you can about the main issue and the minor issues you are attempting to solve. The main goal is to help the user with an issue. This is the primary issue which can be referred as the basic issue. However, your present goal could be to create an MVP in order to get feedback from users or attract investors.

Addressing both the primary and prior issues is crucial since it enables you to identify the most vital requirements.


  • Assign Priorities

There must be a priority allocated to each requirement. Set priority levels as mentioned below,

a) High requirements — have a strong influence on the current issue.

b) Medium requirements — have a minor direct influence on the current issue.

c) Low requirements — pretty much a requirement.


  • Apply a ranking scheme

Ranking each requirement by priority is necessary as we discussed above. You can claim that the first requirement is more essential than the second one here. The second requirement is more important than the third, and so on. As a result, it is clear which is more crucial.

This would help the development team to determine what needs the most of their attention. They would therefore focus on issues 1 to 3 during this sprint. And in the following sprint, 4, 5, and 6.


  • Identify deadlines and expenses

You should be aware by now that high-priority issues are the most essential. They are necessary to resolve the issue. The ones with a medium priority are also excellent. However, the team must also be aware of the differences between high and medium-priority requirements.

If delivery is simple and takes no more than 1–2 hours, go ahead; if it takes longer than 2 hours, avoid it. If there are any medium-priority requirements that don’t take too long and can be met quickly, we can complete them.

Giving a quick analysis of each of those needs and questioning “How long would this take?” or “What would the price be?”, just necessitates a minimal amount of study and teamwork.

When you ask your stakeholders these kinds of questions, you may notice that their priorities start to change slightly. Sometimes you would think, “Well, that’s work of a couple of weeks?.” A requirement that you once considered crucial might not be a top priority anymore!


One Final Note:

One of the most crucial phases of the requirements evaluation phase is prioritization. Involve the stakeholders to help you properly classify and order your requirements. The best option is the one that best satisfies your needs and accomplishes your goals in the shortest amount of time and with the fewest resources. When you have a basic idea of the ways that would be helpful for your project, you can test them out in actual situations to see how they perform.


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