Impact/Effort Matrix Template
Clearly define the impact and effort of activities to help your team prioritize.
About the impact effort matrix template
What is an impact effort matrix template?
This template is for use by any team that would like to align their priorities and get projects on track while reducing wasted time and energy.
Benefits of creating an impact effort matrix
Many teams find that the impact effort matrix is a valuable decision-making tool that helps them optimize limited time and resources while providing a visual guide to everything from daily to-do lists to more complex strategic plans.
Prioritize tasks
One major benefit of creating an impact effort matrix is that it forces teams or individuals to prioritize tasks based on what will most help them achieve their ultimate goals. Prioritizing in this way will help teams identify the most fruitful ways to spend their time.
Maximize efficiency and impact
A properly done impact effort matrix also allows teams to assess how they’re spending their time and find ways to reduce waste. Classifying tasks by which will have the most impact on the team mission or goal helps identify which tasks or undertakings aren’t productive enough to be worthwhile.
Align goals
An impact effort matrix will also help various stakeholders on a team align their goals and priorities by measuring exactly how much impact each effort will have on the advancement of team goals.
When to use an impact effort matrix
An impact effort matrix is best used when a team or employee has multiple potential courses of action they can take or tasks they can complete, and has to decide on the best ways to allocate their time to maximize impact. In scenarios where time and resources are limited, an impact effort matrix can help teams prioritize tasks and find the most efficient path towards achieving overall goals.
How to create an impact effort matrix
Creating an impact effort matrix is simple and straightforward with Miro’s template:
Step 1: Get the whole team together
To start, make sure that all the relevant parties are present at the beginning of the session. It’s critical that the matrix is filled out by actual stakeholders with skin-in-the-game who have a firsthand perspective on how tasks are completed and how much effort goes into them.
Step 2: Identify objectives and team goals
Have the team brainstorm what their main objectives and team goals are. This allows the team to align on the overall mission.
Step 3: Create a 4 quadrant chart
The impact effort matrix is plotted on 2 axes: the level of effort involved in a task, and the level of potential impact completion of the task can have. The 4 quadrants are: quick wins (maximum impact, minimal effort), major projects (maximum impact, maximum effort), fill ins (minimal impact minimal effort), and time wasters (minimum impact, maximum effort).
Step 4: Add individual tasks into one of the 4 quadrants
Plot any tasks that the team was planning or considering onto the matrix depending on how much effort and impact each action can have. Make sure to closely review with the whole team to be certain.
Step 5: Create an action plan based on your results
With an understanding of the impact and effort of all tasks, you can prioritize them and determine which tasks deserve the most time and resources in the future.
What are the 4 quadrants of an impact effort matrix?
The 4 quadrants are: low-effort and low-impact, high-effort and low-impact, low-impact and high-effort, and high-impact and high-effort.
How does an impact effort matrix work?
An impact effort matrix works by plotting all the various tasks related for a project on a matrix with two axes: level of effort and level of impact. Sorting tasks in this way helps teams with prioritization and reducing waste.
Get started with this template right now. It’s free
Prune the Product Tree
Prune the Product Tree (also known as the product tree game or the product tree prioritization framework) is a visual tool that helps product managers organize and prioritize product feature requests. The tree represents a product roadmap and helps your team think about how to grow and shape your product or service by gamifying feedback-gathering from customers and stakeholders. A typical product tree has four symbolic features: the trunk, which represents the existing product features your team is building; the branches, each of which represents a product or system function; roots, which are technical requirements or infrastructure; and leaves, which are new ideas for product features.
Event Planning
Whether you’re planning a product launch, fully remote conference, or milestone event, the Event Planning Template will act as a visual checklist and map for all the details you need to consider before the big day. The Event Planning Template is an adaptable way to make sure the creative and strategic vision of your event doesn’t get lost in the details. By mapping out different sections - from the marketing plan, to the agenda, to snacks and swag for guests — you and your team can focus on the details most important to your functions, and collaborate as needed when overlaps occur.
Action Plan
Why create an action plan? Long-term business strategies and goals are only good if you can make them a reality—by accomplishing every small task along the way. An action plan lists those tasks and lays them out in clear detail. It helps you keep everything in order, make sure nothing is missed, and get stakeholders on the same page to complete a project quickly and effectively. This template will help you write an action plan that’s SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
Clarity, focus, and structure — those are the key ingredients to feeling confident in your company’s directions and decisions, and an OKR framework is designed to give them to you. Working on two main levels — strategic and operational — OKRs (short for objectives and key results) help an organization’s leaders determine the strategic objectives and define quarterly key results, which are then connected to initiatives. That’s how OKRs empower teams to focus on solving the most pressing organizational problems they face.
Stakeholder Analysis
Managing stakeholders is integral to completing a project on time and meeting expectations, so here’s how to use a stakeholder analysis to help. A stakeholder analysis empowers you to meet expectations and complete projects on time by identifying individuals, groups, and organizations with a vested interest in a program or process. In a typical stakeholder analysis, you’ll prioritize stakeholders based on their influence on a project and seek to understand how best to interface with them throughout the course of the project.
PEST Analysis
A big step in keeping your company on a secure path is to know how different elements and factors might affect you, in the near term and in the future. These include political, economic, social, and technological factors — and a PEST Analysis helps you identify and prepare for them. With this easy-to-use template, you can conduct a PEST Analysis, then use the results to shape your strategic planning, budget allocation, marketing, product updates, and organizational change initiatives.