Planning
Impact effort matrix template
Plot ideas by value and cost to find quick wins and the projects worth the effort.
What it is
An impact effort matrix places ideas on two axes, how much value they bring and how much work they take. That gives four boxes. Quick wins bring a lot for little work. Big bets bring a lot for a lot of work. Fill-ins are small both ways, and the last box holds what to avoid.
When to use it
- After a brainstorm, when you have more ideas than time
- When you sort a backlog and want the quick wins first
- To show stakeholders why some ideas have to wait
How to run it
- 01
Bring the ideas
Copy notes from a brainstorm or a backlog onto the board, one idea per note.
- 02
Place by impact first
Move each note up or down by how much it would help users or the business. Ignore effort for now.
- 03
Then by effort
Slide each note left or right by how much work it needs. Ask the people who would do that work.
- 04
Act on the corners
Plan the quick wins now, schedule one big bet and drop whatever lands in Avoid.
Opens a new board from this prompt:
"Impact effort matrix for ideas to reduce checkout drop-off on a furniture web shop"
Related templates
All templatesPlanning
MoSCoW prioritization
Sort requirements into must have, should have, could have and won't have this time.
Planning
Eisenhower matrix
Sort tasks by urgent and important, then decide what to do, plan, delegate or drop.
- Try the AI whiteboard
Or describe your own board
Type one sentence and the AI drafts frames and notes for any format.