By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres argues that user story prioritization is a balancing act rather than a formula. She suggests first setting high-level priorities through themes, then ranking stories within each theme by expected impact against time to build. She also highlights factors that can override a rigid scheme, such as fading opportunities, quick wins that build goodwill, and technical debt. Because both impact and build estimates are often wrong, she concludes that prioritization is more art than science and should weigh all of these factors together.
01Key takeaways
- Set high-level theme priorities before ranking individual user stories.
- Weigh expected impact against time to build, recognizing both estimates are often inaccurate.
- Leave room in your prioritization for time-sensitive one-off opportunities.
- Consider goodwill with customers and sales when a quick win is cheap, but still solve the real need.
- Allocate regular capacity to paying down technical debt so engineers aren't overwhelmed.
- Treat prioritization as judgment informed by many factors, not a single method.
02Key sections
- Start with themes
- Set high-level business priorities first, then prioritize stories within each theme. The relative importance of themes can shift over time based on current needs.
- Impact versus time to build
- Higher-impact stories generally come first, but build time can counterbalance impact. Estimates for both are likely wrong, which makes the tradeoff harder than it looks.
- Fading opportunities
- Time-sensitive chances, like a seasonal event or a partnership, may need to jump the queue. A prioritization scheme should be flexible enough to accommodate them.
- Quick wins and the people factor
- Sometimes satisfying a repeated customer or sales request is worth building even with low measured impact, because goodwill matters. The real underlying need should still be addressed.
- Technical debt
- Paying down engineering shortcuts should be scheduled alongside business work. Engineering and business pressures must be kept reasonably balanced.
03From the post
“Over the past couple of weeks, we've looked at how to write good user stories, how to use themes to manage your backlog, and how to measure and predict the impact of user stories. Today, we'll take a high-level look at how to prioritize user stories. Prioritization”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.