AIWorkDex
Product Practice

Review product priorities with displaced work visible

Choose the next commitments while showing the outcome, evidence, and work that each change displaces.

Preparation
A decision review when a material request challenges current commitments.
Difficulty
Moderate
Task
Reprioritise with visible trade-offs
Back to the Task: Reprioritise with visible trade-offs

Before you start

Get what you need before you start

  • Bring the current commitments, intended outcomes, evidence links, reliability work, and available capacity.
  • Identify the person authorised to change the commitment.

Steps

Work through the method

Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.

  1. Use common decision fields

    Give every candidate the same fields for outcome, evidence, urgency, dependency, protected work, and displaced commitment. Leave unknown values visible.

    Why it matters: Common fields expose different assumptions without manufacturing a score.

    Input
    Current commitments and candidate product work.
    Output
    A comparable set of product ideas with unknowns preserved.
    Tools in this stepJira Product Discovery

    Evidence for this step

  2. Show what each change displaces

    For every candidate that would enter the commitment, record the work delayed, stopped, reduced, or protected. Use a matrix only as one view of the configured fields.

    Why it matters: A priority change becomes reviewable when its cost to current work is explicit.

    Input
    The comparable ideas, active commitments, and capacity boundary.
    Output
    A trade-off view with displaced work linked to each candidate.
    Tools in this stepJira Product Discovery

    Evidence for this step

  3. Record the next commitment

    Choose a short ordered commitment. Record the decision owner, evidence, trade-offs, changed work, expected review signal, and trigger for reopening the decision.

    Why it matters: The team needs a clear commitment and a visible reason for later change.

    Input
    The trade-off view and authorised review.
    Output
    An ordered commitment with its displaced work and review trigger.
    Tools in this stepJira Product Discovery

    Evidence for this step

Success checks

Check the result before you finish

  • Every committed item states its intended outcome and evidence.
  • Every changed commitment shows displaced or protected work.
  • Unknown impact and effort remain qualitative.

Failure modes

Watch for these problems

  • Do not let a matrix or score make the final decision.
  • Pause when a candidate lacks enough evidence to compare.
  • Keep urgent legal, safety, and reliability obligations outside optional prioritisation.

Tools

Choose the tools you need

Sources

Read the sources behind this practice

Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.