Module 5 of 5Lesson 1 of 3~13 min
Prioritize the backlog with RICE and MoSCoW
Without a shared method, backlog prioritization often comes down to whoever speaks loudest. This lesson teaches you to use RICE and MoSCoW to make your choices transparent and open to discussion, and to stand behind a reasoned trade-off when judgment has to win over the score.
Lesson objective
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to score ideas with RICE while making the assumptions behind each factor visible, frame a timebox with MoSCoW, and justify a trade-off that departs from the score.
Topics covered
- backlog prioritization
- RICE
- MoSCoW
- product trade-offs
- backlog management
Where it fits
Prioritize, plan, hand off
In what order to ship, how to communicate it, and how to hand off without losing anything?
Lessons in this module
- Prioritize the backlog with RICE and MoSCoW (this lesson)
- Build an outcome-based roadmap
- Hand off to the development team
What you will learn in the course
This lesson is part of the course Design and validate a product experience with AI
- Write a user-centered, testable problem statement backed by discovery evidence.
- Prepare, run and synthesize unbiased discovery interviews, using AI for preparation and synthesis without delegating judgment to it.
- Build a persona and job stories grounded in real quotes, then choose a target opportunity in an opportunity solution tree.
- Map a flow with its edge cases and turn it into low-fidelity wireframes that cover every screen state.
- Choose a prototype's fidelity and tool (including an AI prototyping tool), run a usability test and prioritize the problems observed.
- Prioritize a backlog with an explicit method (RICE, MoSCoW, value / effort), making the score's assumptions visible, and justify the trade-off.
- Build an outcome-based roadmap with success criteria, and write a handoff spec with acceptance criteria.
Related courses
- Write specs that developers and AI agents understandAdvanced · ~2 hr 30 min
- Instrument a product and use data to make decisionsAdvanced · ~3 hr 30 min
- Prioritize and build an outcome-based roadmapAdvanced · ~2 hr 30 min