Prioritization is the process of evaluating your items to determine which work delivers the most value for the least effort, risk, or cost. Craft.io supports this with flexible scoring frameworks, sortable fields, and visual tools that make it easier to compare work across teams and timeframes.
Once you understand the basics, you will be ready to rank work confidently, compare opportunities, and align your teams around what matters most.
Understanding prioritization frameworks in Craft.io
Prioritization is the process of evaluating items based on value, effort, confidence, risk, or any attributes you choose.
Craft.io works with any prioritization framework, supporting flexible scoring fields, visual views, and consistent frameworks that help teams focus their energy on the highest value work. You can use the out of the box structures provided by the Craft.io Guru™ or create your own model using custom fields and formulas.
Both approaches work across the Workspace and Portfolio, and both update instantly as you score items.
Using Craft.io Guru™ prioritization templates
Craft.io Guru™ includes ready-made prioritization structures based on industry standards. These templates apply consistent names, definitions, and best-practice scoring logic. This is ideal for teams that want a simple, guided approach with minimal setup.
Common templates include:
RICE: Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort.
Value/Effort: A classic 2x2 matrix approach.
MoSCoW: Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have
WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First): Ideal for SAFe or Lean environments.
Now/Next/Later: For high-level roadmap sequencing.
How to activate a Guru template:
Click Guru Views in the left navigation bar in your Workspace.
Select the Prioritization category.
Choose your preferred methodology.
Select Preview to see the example, or Add View to automatically add the necessary custom fields and formulas to your Workspace.
Build your own prioritization model from scratch
If you already have an internal model or need something bespoke, you can design your own scoring framework using Craft.io custom fields.
Standalone fields (e.g. Priority Rank, or High/Medium/Low) are useful for fast, qualitative ranking
Formula fields (e.g. ROI or Business Value) provide deeper analysis by combining multiple numerical inputs into an automated score, helping teams compare work objectively.
To create a custom Prioritization formula field:
Navigate to Workspace Settings > Custom Fields.
Click Add Custom Field and select Formula.
Name your formula (e.g., "Priority Score").
Define your inputs by creating or selecting numerical fields (e.g., "Customer Impact" + "Revenue Value").
Set your weighting logic
Click Create.
Once created, your fields will be available in every view, allowing your teams to prioritize consistently during backlog refinement, roadmap planning, and capacity discussions.
💡 Use Portfolio-level fields when you need all Workspaces to follow the same scoring logic. This is essential for cross-team initiative planning and quarterly executive alignment.
Visualizing priority across your workflow
Once scored, your prioritization data isn't just a number in a cell - it drives your entire planning process:
The Table View: Sort by your formula score to immediately see your "Top 10" highest-value items
The Kanban View: Use your priority score to define the vertical stack-ranking of cards within a column.
Roadmap Views: Color-code your Timeline or Swimlanes by "Priority" to identify if low-value work is clogging your roadmap.
What comes next
With your prioritization frameworks in place, you can begin comparing items across views, aligning teams on direction, and making confident, evidence-based decisions.
Once you are comfortable with the basics, explore how your prioritization values appear in Capacity Planning to see if you have the resources to actually deliver your highest-priority items.
Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question!