Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Prioritization Matrix
A process for setting priorities for tasks or issues.
Supports: knowledge sharing, learning, decision-making
LEVEL OF EFFORT
SIZE OF UTILITY
SCOPE OF WORK
LOW
SCALABLE
NARROW
Use the Prioritization Matrix to prioritize tasks, issues, etc. (based on known, weighted
criteria) and identify the most influential actions within your process. Before you use this tool,
assemble all the tasks within your core strategic process. Each critical action will be
quantitatively evaluated in comparison with other steps within the process.
How do I use the Prioritization Matrix?
The Prioritization Matrix is a grid. Enter each task onto the horizontal and vertical columns of
the grid. Each task is compared to the other tasks, and evaluated accordingly:
1 Equally Important
5 Significantly More Important
10 Exceedingly More Important
.5 Significantly Less Important
.1 Exceedingly Less Important
Whenever a number is entered in a row, its reciprocal must be entered in the corresponding
column. Calculate and total each row to determine the overall weight of each task when the
matrix is complete. This will give you a prioritized listing of each task with respect to the other
tasks.
Examples/Output
Critical Action A B C D E F G H Total
A 5 10 5 1 5 1 .5 27.5
B .5 5 .1 5 .1 5 .1 15.8
C .1 .5 1 1 10 .5 5 18.1
D .5 10 1 5 1 .5 1 19.0
E 1 .5 1 .5 .5 10 .5 14.0
F .5 10 .1 1 5 1 5 22.6
G 1 .5 5 5 .1 1 .1 12.7
H 5 10 .5 1 5 .5 10 32.0
Expected Outcomes:
Improved capability to compare and determine relative importance of several tasks
where limited funds, people or time requires selection of tasks.
See: Case Example #21 (NASA)
Ideas: Group Learning
Knowledge Sharing
C-106
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