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UX Management: What is MOSCOW and how do you use it in UX management?

by | Oct 15, 2023 | UX Design

Arguably the most difficult task in project management is planning, choosing what needs to be done when, how, and why, and also choosing what`s not a priority.

Making objective decisions backed by research will help you produce better and earn your trust among stakeholders.

MOSCOW embodies four categories of priorities;

  1. Must: There are things we have to do; without them, there is no need to undertake the project.
  2. Should: Then there are things we should do; by doing them, we get a big benefit for a relatively incremental cost and effort. These are essentially the low-hanging fruits from the overarching project scope
  3. Could: These are things with a high significant cost with a less significant additional value; we certainly stand to gain by doing them, but they will be on top of our list if we get to a point where we are faced with budget cuts or schedule pressures. In UX these are things that would be wanted by users but are not essential, however they only have a small impact if left out.
  4. Won`t: And finally, there are things we would do, but won`t because they don`t make significant sense. These are things with marginal additional benefit if we do them and the cost and the risk incurred if we do them will almost certainly outweigh the benefit.

The easiest way to run a MOSCOW analysis is through a matrix, list the features, benefits, etc., and compare them across 4 groups, i.e the Musts, Shoulds, Clouds, and won’ts. Use tools like flipcharts, post-its or even modern whiteboards like Miro and Figma collaboratively, and put each feature or benefit in the group to which it belongs.

Start by getting a consensus on the extremes, i.e., the things that you Must do and the ones that you won`t do. After that, move gradually to the things that could and should be done. Take into consideration the resources and time available to run the project.

Just remember to be careful not to put everything under Must-haves, it is a common problem with MOSCOW, mostly when researchers have more time on their hands.

This is a wonderful tool that will make presentations to stakeholders easy. If you can present the scope to them, it can be easy to get a green light.