Prioritization workshop
People disagree about the next useful work. Compare views and retain the decision.
Where the work stays: A shared guest room, with a 24-hour lifetime. Use fictional or approved information and share the room link with care.
A practical workshop · Suggested 60 minutes
Choose a first focus
Agree one useful outcome, decide what belongs now and leave with a focus plan your team can review.
No account or email needed. Suggested timing is a facilitation guide, not a delivery estimate.
Before you meet
Bring the question.
Agree the result.
Use it when the team has several requests, but no shared decision about what to move forward.
- Who takes part
- The person responsible for the outcome, contributors who know the work and someone who can check its value.
- What you keep
- One focus plan: outcome, owner, chosen scope, open questions and a review trigger.
Prepare these few things.
- Bring a short list of candidate outcomes and the evidence behind them.
- Ask the right contributors to join; agree who can decide the scope.
- Bring existing commitments, known constraints and the sources people will need.
- Choose a shared note and a person to keep the decisions.
Keep the notes where your team agrees. This page does not collect your workshop answers.
An agenda you can adapt
A clear question
at each step.
Ask one person to guide the conversation and one to keep the decisions. Extend a step when the facts need more work; leave a question open rather than inventing an answer.
- 0110 min
Name the outcome
Ask what should be different when the focus has done its job. Choose an outcome within someone’s responsibility and name that person. State how the group could check its delivery value.
Keep: A clear outcome, the responsible person and a proposed completion check.
- 0215 min
Choose what moves it forward
Compare the candidate work against that outcome. Discuss value, uncertainty and the cost of starting another thing. Choose a small useful set and say why other work waits. Use prioritization only if the order needs discussion.
Keep: Chosen work, deferred work and the reason for the trade-off.
- 0310 min
Check the scope and room for it
Ask what the first useful result needs and what can wait. Check current commitments and available attention. Use Scope Slicer or Focus Sandbox only if a boundary or capacity assumption needs a closer look.
Keep: The first useful scope, explicit exclusions and capacity assumptions to confirm.
- 0410 min
Find what could stop the next step
Name missing facts, dependent work and likely failure points. Agree a person and next action for each important uncertainty. Use a dependency map or pre-mortem only if it helps resolve a specific question.
Keep: The few important questions or risks, their next actions and agreed owners.
- 0515 min
Agree the plan and review
Read the plan together. Confirm the contributors and who can check the value. Set a review trigger and a time limit if useful. In The Loop, the Product Owner brings reviews together and decides when to close the focus.
Keep: An agreed focus plan and a review trigger; questions that still prevent starting stay visible.
Use the pieces you need
Start with a structure.
Use your own facts.
These portable Markdown templates include a blank version and a clearly labelled fictional example. Choose the sections your group needs.
Only when the decision needs it
An extra exercise.
A clearer answer.
You can finish the agenda in your own notes. If the group is stuck on one of these questions, a tool can give you a starting point.
Scope Slicer
The first useful scope is too broad. Sketch a user journey and choose a smaller slice.
Where the work stays: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Check the tool’s reset and export controls on a shared device.
Focus Sandbox
Existing commitments leave unclear room for the work. Explore a week and its assumptions.
Where the work stays: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Its plan is an illustration, not a delivery forecast.
Dependency Playground
A next step depends on other work. Explore the links and discuss the affected assumptions.
Where the work stays: The edited draft is saved in this browser. A what-if result is a model, not verified project evidence.
After the conversation
Give the decision
somewhere to go.
Keep the agreed notes beside the real work. An expected benefit still needs evidence; the meeting alone does not show that it happened.
Build your first-Focus plan- Put the agreed plan beside the real work, using your existing board and documents or a Tellenze workspace you can access.
- Confirm unresolved facts before acting on them. Obtain any permission the work needs.
- Review actual delivery value with the right people. Keep unfinished work’s real state and history.
- After the focus, use the learning kit to choose a working change for the next relevant focus.
Take the useful part
Your agenda.
Ready to adapt.
Copy or download the agenda, blank decision prompts and resource links. Fill it in with your team. The file does not create workspace work, install templates or run an agent.
Downloads work without JavaScript. Opening another tool or a shared room follows that tool’s data handling.
Portable Markdown
Workshop kit
Use the preview below, then copy the text or download a .md file.
Choose a first focus — workshop kit
Agree one useful outcome, decide what belongs now and leave with a focus plan your team can review.
Suggested meeting time: 60 minutes. Adjust to your group; this is not a delivery estimate. Participants: The person responsible for the outcome, contributors who know the work and someone who can check its value. Useful output: One focus plan: outcome, owner, chosen scope, open questions and a review trigger.
Preparation
- Bring a short list of candidate outcomes and the evidence behind them.
- Ask the right contributors to join; agree who can decide the scope.
- Bring existing commitments, known constraints and the sources people will need.
- Choose a shared note and a person to keep the decisions.
Agenda
1. Name the outcome — 10 minutes
Ask what should be different when the focus has done its job. Choose an outcome within someone’s responsibility and name that person. State how the group could check its delivery value.
Keep: A clear outcome, the responsible person and a proposed completion check.
2. Choose what moves it forward — 15 minutes
Compare the candidate work against that outcome. Discuss value, uncertainty and the cost of starting another thing. Choose a small useful set and say why other work waits. Use prioritization only if the order needs discussion.
Keep: Chosen work, deferred work and the reason for the trade-off.
3. Check the scope and room for it — 10 minutes
Ask what the first useful result needs and what can wait. Check current commitments and available attention. Use Scope Slicer or Focus Sandbox only if a boundary or capacity assumption needs a closer look.
Keep: The first useful scope, explicit exclusions and capacity assumptions to confirm.
4. Find what could stop the next step — 10 minutes
Name missing facts, dependent work and likely failure points. Agree a person and next action for each important uncertainty. Use a dependency map or pre-mortem only if it helps resolve a specific question.
Keep: The few important questions or risks, their next actions and agreed owners.
5. Agree the plan and review — 15 minutes
Read the plan together. Confirm the contributors and who can check the value. Set a review trigger and a time limit if useful. In The Loop, the Product Owner brings reviews together and decides when to close the focus.
Keep: An agreed focus plan and a review trigger; questions that still prevent starting stay visible.
Your decision notes
- Outcome and responsible person: [Fill in]
- Delivery value and how to check it: [Fill in]
- Chosen work and reason: [Fill in]
- Deferred work and reason: [Fill in]
- First useful scope and exclusions: [Fill in]
- Capacity assumptions to confirm: [Fill in]
- Important uncertainty / next action / agreed owner: [Fill in]
- Contributors and reviewers: [Fill in]
- Review trigger and optional time limit: [Fill in]
- Unresolved facts or required permission before starting: [Fill in]
Templates
Optional exercises
- Prioritization workshop: People disagree about the next useful work. Compare views and retain the decision. Data handling: A shared guest room, with a 24-hour lifetime. Use fictional or approved information and share the room link with care.
- Scope Slicer: The first useful scope is too broad. Sketch a user journey and choose a smaller slice. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Check the tool’s reset and export controls on a shared device.
- Focus Sandbox: Existing commitments leave unclear room for the work. Explore a week and its assumptions. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Its plan is an illustration, not a delivery forecast.
- Dependency Playground: A next step depends on other work. Explore the links and discuss the affected assumptions. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. A what-if result is a model, not verified project evidence.
Follow through
- Put the agreed plan beside the real work, using your existing board and documents or a Tellenze workspace you can access.
- Confirm unresolved facts before acting on them. Obtain any permission the work needs.
- Review actual delivery value with the right people. Keep unfinished work’s real state and history.
- After the focus, use the learning kit to choose a working change for the next relevant focus.
Continue reading
This is a portable agenda. It does not create workspace work, invite anyone, install native templates or run an agent. Fill it in with your facts and agreed decisions. Keep private material in a place approved by your team. Opening a linked tool follows that tool’s data handling.
View workshop kit Markdown source
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