Two Straightforward Prioritization Tasks for Your User Experience Investigations

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In the dynamic world of product development, prioritizing features is a crucial task. Two popular techniques, the Pair Comparisons Exercise and the Buy a Feature Exercise, have been developed to help teams make informed decisions about what features to include in a current release.

The Pair Comparisons Exercise, a method devised by psychologists and researchers in the field of decision making and preference elicitation, is a straightforward approach that involves comparing each feature to every other feature to establish an order of preference. This exercise can be done individually or in a group, with points awarded to the winning feature in each comparison.

On the other hand, the Buy a Feature Exercise, created by Kate Rutter and colleagues as part of the Innovation Games® methodology for product management, presents participants with a stack of virtual currency and a list of features. Each feature is written on a separate card and includes its name, a brief description, and the price based on its complexity. The objective of this exercise is to make hard decisions about what participants value, as buying every feature doesn't provide learning opportunities.

Both exercises are designed to simulate real-world scenarios, where participants are not provided with enough cash to buy all the features, forcing them to prioritize what they really want. A random currency, such as Mickey Mouse Money, is used instead of a local currency to avoid thinking of the cost of the work.

During the exercise, participants can ask questions before making a purchase or purchases. The shop keeper should ask why participants want each purchased feature and make a note of the reasoning. The exercise ends when participants run out of money or purchase all the features they are interested in.

The ideal list for the Buy a Feature Exercise should be no more than 25-30 features long, and the list of features should be meaningful to users, excluding backend or technical details. This exercise can be run with up to 4 participants at once, but it can also be done one-on-one.

Both exercises, the Pair Comparisons Exercise and the Buy a Feature Exercise, are easy to implement and can be used in various UX environments, even with limited budgets for UX testing. They offer a unique and engaging way to prioritize features, providing valuable insights into user preferences and helping teams make informed decisions about their product releases.

Two Straightforward Prioritization Tasks for Your User Experience Investigations