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MoSCoW

Define and prioritize requirements and constraints for the challenge.

MoSCoW aims to prioritize the requirements for a solution to meet the challenge by identifying the “must-have”, “should-have”, “could-have”, and “won’t-have” criteria. This helps with understanding the scope of the challenge before generating solutions. MoSCoW can also be used to prioritize testing, development, defects/bugs/issues, and to do tasks. Priorities may shift with time as business and user needs change.

2-10 people
60 minutes

What you’ll need

  • Pens or markers
  • Sticky notes
  • Easel pad or whiteboard
  • List of project requirements

Prerequisite Activities

Downloadable Materials

Instructions

step 1

Assemble all stakeholders

You should aim to have the relevant stakeholders in your project present for this activity.

step 2

Share requirements

Put the requirements up on a display, whiteboard, or large pad of paper.

step 3

Assign requirements

Each requirement should be assigned one of the following letters. Start all requirements as “Won’t Haves” and then justify why each needs to be given a higher priority. Ask “why is the requirement needed?”

M – Must have
These requirements must be part of the solution. The solution is acceptable when all these requirements are satisfied.

S – Should have
These requirements are important and have high value but not critical. The solution is acceptable without meeting these requirements.

C – Could have
These requirements may be part of the solution, but are optional, if time and resources permit. There is less impact than “should have” requirements, if left out. The solution is acceptable without meeting these requirements.

W – Won’t have
These requirements will not be part of the initial solution, but may be added in a later iteration.

These requirements will not be part of the solution. These indicate items that may have a negative impact on your user’s experience; it can be a deal breaker for your user in which they will not select your solution to fulfill their needs.

Tip

Ask, “what happens if this requirement is not met?”. If the answer is “there is no point in implementing a solution that does not meet this requirement”, then it is a “Must Have” requirement.

If there are multiple stakeholders with different opinions, Dot Voting activity can be used to reach consensus.

step 4

Summarize the criteria

Share the items in each category. Use this as a criteria when generating ideas.

step 5

Refer back

The requirements should be reviewed throughout the project as needs may evolve over time.