Impact and Effort Matrix

In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

Duration: 30m - 60m

Participants: 3 - 15

Difficulty: Low

by Gamestorming methods

Goal

To generate ideas and examine them by two factors: Impact and Effort

Materials

Instructions

Flow

Given a goal, a group may have a number of ideas for how to achieve it. To open the exercise, frame the goal in terms of a “What to do” or “What we need” question. This may sound as simple as “What do we need to reach our goal?”

Ask the group to generate ideas individually on sticky notes.

Then, using Post-Up, ask them to present their ideas back to the group by placing them within a 2×2 matrix that is organized by impact and effort: