Use MoSCoW to Prioritise Without the Drama

A simple way to sort the musts from the maybes.

Everyone agrees something needs to be prioritised.

Then the real conversation starts—and everything becomes “must-have.”

When everything is important, nothing gets done.

You need a shared way to sort what matters most.

How do you get aligned on priorities without endless debate?

Use the MoSCoW method.

It’s a simple way to group work into 4 buckets:

• Must have – critical to launch or success.

• Should have – important, but not essential.

• Could have – nice to have, won’t break anything if left out.

• Won’t have (for now) – explicitly ruled out this time.

Example:

Say you’re building a microsite:

• Must: A mobile-friendly landing page with sign-up form

• Should: Social sharing and email automation

• Could: Embedded video from last year’s event

• Won’t: Blog section (saved for phase 2)

It forces useful decisions—without pretending everything is equal.

MoSCoW doesn’t just help you build better.

It helps you say no—together.

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