The MoSCoW technique is a prioritization framework that is often used to prioritize portfolio, program, or project components, as well as requirements, risks, features, or other product information. The name “MoSCoW” stands for “Must have,” “Should have,” “Could have,” and “Won’t have.”
In project management, the framework is used to help teams prioritize features or requirements for a project based on their relative importance. The four categories are defined as follows:
- Must have: These are requirements or features that are critical to the project’s success and must be included in the final product.
- Should have: These are important requirements or features that are not essential but would still provide significant value to the project outcomes.
- Could have: These are desirable requirements or features that would be nice to have but are not essential to the project’s success.
- Won’t have: These are requirements or features that are not important or feasible for the project and will not be included.
By using the MoSCoW technique, teams can prioritize their work based on the most important features or requirements, ensuring that they focus their efforts on the things that will have the biggest impact on the project’s success.
Another commonly used prioritization scheme includes multicriteria weighted analysis.