John Cutler

How to Run an Effective Prioritization Activity

“This activity was like a magic trick. In an hour we made more progress together than we typically make in weeks of meetings.”Craig Daniel&nbsp;| SVP &amp; GM New Ventures and Guest | Toast Cohort 5 —&nbsp;Last Workshop of 2024Thursday, December 12th, 3hrs8AM PST (US), 11AM EST (US), 4PM (16:00) GMT If you have facilitated a prioritization exercise you know that the real limiter is not picking the right framework. The real challenge is making prioritization decisions without getting mired in:&nbsp; • false rigor• horse trading• estimation bingo• …and decision paralysis. This workshop is about short-circuiting these traps and helping your team converge quickly on a force-ranked prioritized list of bets—fast, without glossing over nuance or getting sidetracked. And making those decisions stick! I will teach you how to facilitate a short prioritization activity that is easy to run but adaptable when the team wants to go deep. The activity explores themes like value, urgency, and effort—nothing fancy—but it follows a very specific sequence and script that addresses big prioritization and oversimplification traps. In this workshop, we’ll cover:• Core concepts like value vs. urgency, opportunity costs, categories of value, and cost of delay• The mechanics of the activity, including prep, steps, templates, and facilitation techniques• Realistic scenarios and examples• Advanced techniques for unblocking teams, addressing pushback, and dealing with dependencies Workshop format:• Three-hour live workshop• A mix of lecture, case study review, and interactive exercises• Perpetual access to the recording and all resources, including Miro templates

Facilitate (relatively) painless prioritization.

This 3hr Workshop is for product managers, designers, and developers on the hook to facilitate a prioritization activity.

This 3hr workshop is for people who are sick of prioritization spreadsheets that don't work (or work in all the wrong ways)

This 3hr workshop is for readers of The Beautiful Mess who want to move past the theory and apply some of the frameworks.

Who is this workshop for?

What you’ll get out of this workshop:

Everything you’ll need to run an effective prioritization activity in your company including pre-work, activity positioning, and activity scripts/templates.

A step-by-step prioritization activity playbook

Specific hacks you can use to nudge the team towards making better prioritization decisions.

“Magic” facilitation tricks

Some people will find this activity “too simple” and will ask for a more complex or “rigorous” framework (or the reverse). I’ll teach you how to handle these objections.

Objection handling

Once we’ve established a strong foundation, we’ll explore some advanced topics like dependencies, resolution (what we’re prioritizing), open-ended bets, and facilitation nuances. We will also discuss how to integrate the core concepts into everyday prioritization decisions.

Advanced topics

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

What people are saying

Meet your instructor

October 24th, 2024

Workshop Dates

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Active hands-on learning

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Interactive and project-based

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

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