What is The MoSCoW Prioritization Method and How Do You Use It

Have you ever noticed how remote teams always seem busy but nothing actually gets done?

Everyone’s working. Everyone’s stressed. But the important stuff keeps getting pushed back..

The MoSCoW method fixes this. It’s a simple way to categorize every task so everyone knows what needs to happen now, what can wait, and what should be dropped completely.

It comes from an agile framework in the UK. But forget all that.

What matters is it works. Especially for teams spread across different countries and time zones.

The Four Categories That Change Everything

MoSCoW breaks down into four buckets.

Must Have means if this doesn’t happen, you’re screwed. Payroll doesn’t process. Legal compliance fails. Your core product stops working. These are your actual priorities.

Should Have means it’s important but you won’t die without it. You can push it to next week or next month without everything falling apart. The project still launches. Work still continues.

Could Have means it’s nice but optional. It makes things better or prettier or more convenient. But if it never happens, nobody really notices.

Won’t Have is the most underrated category. These are things you’re explicitly saying no to right now. Not forever. Just not now.

That last one matters more than people think.

Because when you don’t have a Won’t Have list, those tasks keep creeping back in. Someone keeps asking about them. They keep showing up in meetings. They waste time. Here’s how you can apply it.

Step 1: Get Everything Out of Your Head

The first step is simple. 

Write down every single thing your team is supposed to be doing. Everything.

Ongoing projects. Feature requests. Maintenance tasks. That thing someone mentioned three weeks ago. All of it.

Don’t organize yet. Don’t prioritize yet. Just list it all out.

Use a spreadsheet. Use a project management tool. Use a Google doc. Doesn’t matter.

What matters is getting complete visibility before you make any decisions.

Step 2: Get the Right People in the Room

This only works if everyone who makes decisions is involved.

For a video call, schedule something focused. Not your regular meeting. A specific session just for this.

If your team is too spread out for that, create a shared document where people can comment and discuss over a few days.

Include your team leads. Include people who actually do the work. They usually know better than you what’s realistic and what’s not.

If you’re managing VAs or contractors, their input matters. They see things you don’t.

Step 3: Set the Rules First

Before you categorize anything, everyone needs to agree on what the categories mean.

Otherwise you’ll argue about every single task.

Must Haves need to pass one of these tests:

You’re legally required to do it. It’s in a contract. If it doesn’t happen, everything else stops working. Or customers can’t use your core product.

Should Haves need to:

Add real value but work continues without them for now. They’re important but not immediately critical.

Could Haves need to:

Be genuinely optional. Nice improvements that don’t affect whether things work or not.

Won’t Haves need to:

Get documented with a reason why you’re saying no. And a note about when you might reconsider.

This last part matters. You’re not saying “never.” You’re saying “not now, and here’s why.”

Step 4: Categorize Everything

Now go through your list.

Put each task in a category. Have real discussions when people disagree.

Those disagreements are valuable. They reveal things others didn’t know about.

Here’s the critical rule: Must Haves should be less than 60% of your total work.

If you’re over that, you’re lying to yourself. You’re calling too many things “must have.”

When everything is urgent, nothing is urgent.

Ask harder questions. Is this really non-negotiable? What actually happens if we wait one more week? Can we break this into pieces where only part is critical?

Step 5: Split Up Your Team’s Time

Once everything is categorized, assign your capacity.

40-60% of effort goes to Must Haves. The rest splits between Should Haves and Could Haves.

For remote teams, build in buffer time. Especially for Must Haves.

When something goes wrong and your team is spread across different timezones, you can’t just pull everyone into a room to fix it. Things take longer.

If you’re working with contractors you haven’t worked with before, be more conservative. Give yourself more buffer. You’ll get faster as you work together more.

Step 6: Make It Visible

Use whatever tool your team already uses. Jira. Trello. Asana. Whatever.

Tag every task with its category. Make it visible without people having to dig through five different boards.

Set up notifications for when priorities change. If something moves from Should Have to Must Have, everyone needs to know immediately.

Your team works different hours. They can’t just ask you what to focus on. The system needs to tell them.

Step 7: Write Down Why

For each task, especially Must Haves and Won’t Haves, add a short note about why it’s in that category.

This is huge for remote teams.

Someone new joins. Or someone comes back from vacation. They can see not just what the priorities are but why those decisions were made.

Saves you from answering the same questions over and over.

Step 8: Review Regularly

Things change. Requirements shift. New problems come up.

Review your priorities every week or two.

Ask:

Are our Must Haves still actually critical? Did any Should Haves become more urgent? Can we move any Could Haves into active work? Do any Won’t Haves need another look?

Schedule these during hours that overlap for your team, even if it’s not perfect for everyone.

These reviews keep everyone aligned. And they give people a place to raise concerns about workload before it becomes a crisis.

Step 9: Track What Actually Happens

Watch how your classifications play out in reality.

Are Must Haves consistently running late? Then either you need more capacity or you’re calling too many things Must Haves.

Could Haves never getting done? That’s fine. They’re optional. But if it bothers you, maybe you’re chronically under-resourced.

Use your retrospectives to ask if you set priorities correctly. Did that Must Have actually need to be that urgent? Should we have deferred that?

You get better at this over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does MoSCoW stand for in project management?

MoSCoW stands for Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Won’t Have. It’s a prioritization framework that helps teams categorize tasks by urgency and impact. Must Haves are non-negotiable requirements that would cause project failure if missing. Should Haves are important but can be deferred without immediate consequences. Could Haves are nice-to-have improvements included only when resources allow. Won’t Haves are explicitly out of scope for the current phase, preventing scope creep and overcommitment.

How much of your team’s effort should go to Must Have tasks?

Must Have tasks should consume no more than 40-60% of your team’s total effort according to the DSDM framework that created the MoSCoW method. If you’re dedicating more than 60% to Must Haves, you’re taking on too much risk and leaving no buffer for unexpected issues or delays. .

How often should distributed teams review MoSCoW priorities?

Remote and distributed teams should review priorities every 1-2 weeks at minimum. Requirements change quickly, stakeholder expectations shift, and unexpected obstacles appear more frequently when teams work across time zones. Schedule these during overlapping hours when possible, and document all priority changes with clear reasoning for asynchronous team members.