What is weighted scoring?
Weighted scoring is a prioritization approach by assigning a numerical value to a list of items based on a cost-benefit analysis that is weighted against an organization's objectives. Product managers can use the framework for feature prioritization, which is a part of the product management process.
How to calculate a weighted score?
1. Identify the organization's criteria that the list of items should be measured against. For example:
- Drive activation of new customers
- Drive retention of existing customers
- Drive expansion of the teams of existing customers
- Drive recommendations
2. Consider the organization's objectives and assign a weight (0-100) to each criteria based on the relative impact on meeting those objectives. For example: where an organization already has good levels of user satisfaction and the organization is focused on revenue and growth.
- 60 activation of new customers
- 20 retention of existing customers
- 80 expansion of the teams
- etc.
3. Systematically score each item of the list by the weights for each criteria and tally up the total score for each item.
4. Take account of and subtract the cost for each item on the list, e.g example:
- Time and cost of development
- Time and cost of implementation
- Operational costs
- etc.
Other prioritization frameworks
ICE and RICE are two other prioritization frameworks that provide granular but more generic approaches for assessment. The Kano model provides another sophisticated framework, based on the degree of customer delight.
