Impact-Feasibility Matrix

By mapping ideas/tasks/projects in a visual way, the matrix helps organize the use of resources in an efficient and effective manner according to their impact in achieving certain goals. This can help organizations, especially those with limited resources, make sound choices on where to invest their resources for maximum impact. By prioritizing the tasks/projects/ideas, organizations can also create a timeline of development based on impact goals and resources and help curb short-term thinking. 

The tool aims to help teams prioritize which ideas/tasks/projects to work on to achieve impact goals based on their capacity to advance the goal and the resources needed to carry them out. The purpose is to increase team knowledge on the different aspects of the goals (the cost of choices) and to align effort around impact goals while keeping in mind resource limitations and different time horizons. 

The tool can be useful for quickly assessing a priority list of ideas/tasks/projects to bring forward.

The activity is best done in a small group composed of the main representatives of the different stakeholders and value creation areas. To ensure for effective prioritization, it is best to ensure for a mix of different levels to allow for diverse perspectives and problem knowledge (often tacit) to emerge and shape the prioritization.  

Step One: Ask the group to share objectives/main goals. This helps align participants around common goals and understandings of the problems/challenges/objectives. Introduce the matrix. Explain what impact means and what feasibility means. Impact regards measuring the degree to which a suggestion makes attaining a specific goal possible. Feasibility involves measuring the degree to which an action is possible based on an assessment of resources.  

Step 2: Brainstorm ideas/projects or share tasks that advance your previously agreed upon goals (often based on criteria set in previous brainstorming sessions or by project agreements etc.).  Write each idea on a separate post-it note.  

Step 2: Plot these ideas/projects/tasks on one of the 4 quadrants of the matrix. The higher the estimated impact the closer to the ends of the y-axis it should be plotted. The higher the estimated feasibility the closer to the ends of the x-axis it should be plotted. 

Step 3: Analyze the results. Ideas with high impact and high feasibility are “quick wins” or so-called “low hanging fruit”. Ideas with high feasibility but low impact can be considered “busy work”. Ideas that are high impact but with low feasibility are often “major projects” meaning they need substantial new investment (coming at a cost) but could yield big results toward goal attainment. Ideas that are low impact and low feasibility should be avoided and are considered a “resource drain”.  

Step 4: Having plotted the ideas, the team can now prioritize them and create an action plan based on the results. The activity helps the team determine which actions should be given the most time and resources in the future. 

The tool should be shown to relevant actors (beneficiaries, customers, supply chain actors, employees, etc.) for feedback and iteration.