How do you prioritize requirements?

Direct answer

What a strong answer covers

How it works

Prioritisation is a comparison of expected value against cost and risk under a capacity limit, done in the open. Value includes revenue, cost saved, risk reduced, and compliance obligations, and it is stated with evidence rather than volume of the person asking. Effort and dependencies come from the delivery team. A method such as weighted scoring, MoSCoW with a hard cap on must-haves, or cost of delay gives structure, but the decision-maker and the trade-offs must be explicit: choosing item A means item B slips, and that is recorded. Priorities are revisited when assumptions change, not on a fixed calendar.

Example

For a customer portal release, 40 requests were scored on value evidence, regulatory need, and effort; the two compliance items and the three features tied to churn reasons in support tickets made the first release, while the most-requested feature from sales was deferred because its value rested on one large deal that had not closed. The list and the reasoning were published so the deferral was understood rather than fought.

Common mistakes

• Ranking by whoever shouted loudest in the last meeting.
• Marking 80 percent of items as must-have and prioritising nothing.
• Treating priorities as fixed after the market or a deal changes.

A useful answer structure

Answer from your own work.

Do not memorise a script: use only examples you can explain honestly in follow-up questions.