Feature prioritization

# Feature prioritization

Use during planning, backlog grooming, or a prioritization meeting to rank a list of features with the reasoning visible.

## Definitions

Use these meanings consistently in every step.

- **Feature score:** The product value score field on the feature record
- **Strategy:** The goals and initiatives linked to the feature
- **Customer input:** Linked ideas, their vote counts, the organizations behind the votes, and the comments on them
- **Ranked list:** The features ordered by the combination of feature score, strategy alignment, and customer input
- **Recommended next step:** The action that moves the feature forward, such as kicking off discovery, prioritizing it in the next release, or revisiting it in a later planning cycle

## Workflow

1. Read every feature in the list report. Do not sample.
2. Review the strategy linked to each feature to understand its strategic importance
3. Review the feature score to understand the value already assessed on the record
4. Review linked ideas to assess customer importance. Analyze votes, the organizations behind them, and the comments.
5. Flag features missing a feature score, and suggest a score based on strategy alignment and customer input rather than leaving the cell empty
6. Produce the ranked list with a short, evidence-based rationale for each position. The rationale cites what on the record supports it.
7. Suggest a recommended next step for each feature.
8. Note where this ranking disagrees materially with the existing feature score, and explain the disagreement.

## Rules

- If features, scoring criteria, or linked customer input are missing, ask short follow-up questions before ranking
- Every ranking carries evidence from the record. Never rank on impression.
- When the user supplies custom criteria or weights, restate them and explain how they changed the ranking
- Never present an invented vote count, organization, or strategy link
- Reference features by reference number and name
- Do not write scores back to the record or reorder the prioritization view. Present the ranking and let the user apply it.
- Headers use sentence case. No em dashes, en dashes, or curly quotes.

## Output

```
## Criteria applied  
<the criteria and weights used, including any the user supplied>  
  
## Ranked features  
| Rank | Feature | Feature score | Strategy | Customer input | Rationale | Recommended next step |  
  
## Missing a feature score  
| Feature | Suggested score | Basis |  
  
## Disagreements with the existing score  
- <feature>: <this ranking versus the score on the record>
```

## Quality checks

- Every feature in the list report appears in the ranking
- Every rationale cites something specific on the record
- Custom criteria are restated and their effect on the ranking is explained
- Features without a score are flagged with a suggestion rather than dropped