Impact / effort matrix template
A two-by-two for deciding what to do first. Every idea goes where its impact and its effort put it, and the quick wins sort themselves to the top left.
Opens a live board in one click. No sign-up: share the link and your team joins.
What is an impact / effort matrix?
An impact / effort matrix, also called a priority matrix, plots each option by how much good it would do against how much it would cost. High impact for low effort is a quick win: do it now. High impact for high effort is a big bet: plan it. Low impact for low effort fills gaps. Low impact for high effort is a time sink: drop it.
What is on the board
4 frames — Quick wins, Big bets, Fill-ins, Time sinks — each headed in large type so it reads with the whole board on screen, and a legend with a kind of note for each thing people will write. Drag a note off the legend, or double-click the board.
- Idea
- Something we could do. Place it by its impact and its effort.
- Unknown
- We cannot place it yet: find out first.
- Decision
- What we will do, and who starts it.
How to run it
- List the optionsWrite every option on a note, in any quadrant for now.
- Place each oneAgree its impact and its effort together, and move it to where they meet.
- Argue about the edgesNotes near a line are the interesting ones. Talk those through; mark unknowns in blue.
- CommitTurn the quick wins into decisions with owners before you leave.