Introduction
For any organisation to be relevant, they have to constantly deliver value to the customers. When they have a lot of items, thoughts, ideas to deliver, it becomes important to know what deserves your immediate attention and that makes a huge difference between success and burnout.
Whether you are managing projects/products, chasing long term strategic goals, delivering features or even services, two questions come up straightaway:
- What to deliver?
- When to deliver it?
Imagine a situation where everything feels urgent and nothing you are doing is giving value. Would anyone or any organisation want to be in this state? Well, the answer is a definite “NO”. Without clear prioritisation, teams can go into cycles of chaos and miss deadlines, or work could be half completed or even work not meeting the goals. Also with a structured prioritization framework, teams are more empowered to say “Yes” to what matters and “No” to that can be deferred. There are several prioritisation techniques that are available in the market and are used based on what the system and business demands. WSJF is one of the most popular prioritization techniques used by organisations when economic outcomes are considered. In this blog, we are going to understand:
- What is WSJF?
- How is WSJF used in SAFe?
- How is WSJF different from other prioritization techniques?
- Key components and scale used in WSJF
- How to implement WSJF in your organisation?
- Applications of WSJF Agile
Introduction to Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
What is WSJF?
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is one of the most widely used prioritization techniques that helps decide what to work on first so that you get the most value in the shortest amount of time. In SAFe, WSJF helps in figuring out priorities by comparing how much delay it would cost the company versus how long the job will take. It is more about doing the most valuable things faster.
WSJF = Cost of Delay / Job size
With this formula, it is evident that any work item with maximum Cost of delay directly influences the priority i.e work items with higher value gets picked up first and work item with minimum job size indirectly influences the value i.e, small work item gets picked up first.
Importance of WSJF in Agile and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)
Scaled agile framework (SAFe) is built around flows at all levels. That means there is a continuous flow of work coming into the cadence and teams and continuous output. In this environment, there is a need to keep the flow efficiency high with constant need to focus on what needs to be done first and what will happen if it is delayed. WSJF in SAFe:
- Helps in focussing on maximising business value all the time by delivering work with highest economic value
- Cost Of Delay helps teams to understand the strategic loss if a work item is delayed
- Provides quantitative way of prioritising work rather than assumptions and gut feeling
- Ensures effort goes to a work item with highest value to the business
- Helps in aligning teams with organizational priorities
How does WSJF help in prioritization and decision-making?
WSJF helps in prioritization and decision making by providing a structured, quantitative, data driven approach to rank the work based on economic impact. It calculates priority by dividing cost of delay by job size. This enables teams to focus on delivering maximum value in the shortest time leading to more alignment with strategic goals across portfolios.
Understanding WSJF in Agile
WSJF meaning in Agile
WSJF stands for Weighted Shortest Job First. It is a prioritization technique used to understand the order in which features, capabilities and enablers should be picked to deliver the highest value as quick as possible
What is WSJF in Agile and how does it work?
SAFe WSJF is a prioritization technique which helps teams to pick and decide the order or work items they have to deliver. It works by considering dividing “Cost Of Delay” by “Job Size” and helping teams pick up a work item which is of high value and takes the least amount of time. (Detailed explanation in the below sections)
Difference between WSJF in Agile and traditional prioritization methods
- WSJF prioritizes work items based on economic values while traditional techniques like MOSCOW, RICE etc is based on stakeholder opinions, urgency and perspectives
- WSJF is quantitative while other techniques like Must have, Should have could be subjective
- WSJF minimises economic loss against traditional techniques which are most driven by compliance, deadlines and stakeholder demands
- WSJF promotes shorter jobs deliver value faster while traditional techniques may prioritise longer projects with perspective based importance
- WSJF promotes dynamic prioritization of work based on data points whereas traditional techniques may tend to not change once the priority is fixed
WSJF in Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
WSJF Safe Agile: How it fits into the SAFe methodology
SAFe applies WSJF to prioritise the backlogs. Backlogs are continuously prioritized based on WSJF framework that uses relative user and business value, time criticality, risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement along with job size. It also automatically ignores sunk cost which is a basic principle of lean economics practices. For Example: Imagine working on a feature and later scrapping it. The resources spent on the feature are the sunk costs
WSJF in Jira: Implementation and tracking in Jira
JIRA does not provide WSJF fields by default. However, it can be implemented with the help of custom fields and calculated fields. Here is how you can use WSJF in JIRA:
- Create custom fields for User & business value, Time criticality, Risk Reduction/Opportunity enablement and Job Size
- Create calculated field for WSJF with either automation for JIRA or script runner
- Use WSJF on boards and swimlanes
- Integrate with tools like JIRA align and other plugins to track at feature and epic level
Scaled Agile Framework Weighted Shortest Job First: A structured approach
Components of WSJF include business value, time criticality, risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement along with job size which are all numeric values based on scale and are relatively scored using Fibonacci series. Here is how WSJF is a structured approach:
- Basis of decision is cost of delay and job size
- It uses a formula to score
- Change of values will still use the same formula and reprioritise
How WSJF Works: The Formula & Calculation
WSJF Formula: Breaking down the components
- Cost Of Delay – In simple plain language COD is the money lost by delaying or not doing the job for a duration. It measures the economic value of a work item over time. Example : If there was a feature which would have generated 10K and it was delayed by 6 months, then the COD is 60K. Cost of delay consists of 3 parameters which are all relatively scored with the help of Fibonacci series:
- User/Business Value – What is the value this work item delivers to the user and the business? Could include aspects of revenue generation, customer satisfaction, strategic alignment, is there a potential delay penalty etc
- Time Criticality – How urgent is this work? Do we have a fixed deadline? Will the value decrease over time? Any dependencies or market window?
- Risk Reduction / Opportunity Enablement – Does this work item reduce a significant risk for a future delivery? or enable a future business opportunity?
- Job Size – This is the effort required to complete the work item. It is an estimate of time and team effort needed for implementation. Teams may use story points , person month or relative estimation scaling size to estimate the job size
WSJF Calculator: How to calculate WSJF scores – A Step by Step Guide
- Step 1 – Estimate the COD
- Use Fibonacci series 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20 and relative estimate User Business Value. Higher the number means more user business value
- Again use Fibonacci series 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20 and relative estimate Time Criticality. Higher the number here means it has to be done sooner
- Use Fibonacci series 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20 and relative estimate Risk Reduction/Opportunity Enablement. Here the higher value means more risk to be reduced or more potential business opportunity
- Sum up all three values and that is your Cost Of Delay
- Step 2 – Estimate Job size or Duration
- Estimate the effort required to complete the work. Use a constant scale/range to measure the effort needed. Story points, size, man days can be used for the same
- Step 3 – Calculate the WSJF score by dividing the Cost Of Delay by Job Size
Let’s take an example to understand how to prioritize the work items based on WSJF score, Let’s say there are 3 features to be prioritised and the values of the parameters are as shown in the table above, in this case:
- Feature A will be picked first because of higher WSJF as a result of COD being high and low duration
- Feature B will be picked up last because of lowest WSJF as a result of High value and high job size
- Feature C will be picked 2nd as as result of relatively lower COD but very minimum job size
Cost of Delay WSJF: Importance of delay in prioritization
There are several factors that come into play when a work item is delayed, especially when there are customers involved. Some features may be time critical, some may be to overtake a competitor and so on. Below are some points on importance of delay in prioritisation:
Example: If amazon gives holiday discounts post holiday season, it does not really add value to them.
- Missed Market opportunities – Delay accounts for the fact that value of features or work items may reduce after some specific time, ignoring them could prove costly for an organisation maybe to meet critical deadlines or even not being able to meet the market rhythm or trend
- Brings in Cost of not acting – COD in WSJF brings negative impact on economic consequences of postponing work which may include lost revenue, increased risk and decreased customer satisfaction. These insights could help teams take more informed decisions
- Reduces growing functional and technical debt – Prioritising tasks based on COD helps reduce accumulation of technical debt and manage long term risks
- Reduces waste in the flow – By focussing on what is most time sensitive and valuable, organisations can improve their flow of value delivery and reduce waste associated with working on less impactful work
Key Components of WSJF Calculation
WSJF Score: How it helps in backlog prioritization
WSJF score is derived by weighing the cost of delay and the job size. That means we might as well deliver the highest value work item which takes the least amount of work first. Here is how WSJF helps in prioritizing the backlog:
- It considers both how valuable a task is and how urgent it is which helps teams pick work that delivers the most impact in shortest time
- It removes guess work and provides numerical score to rank backlog items which is more objective
- Increases ROI by doing the shortest, highest value jobs first
Prioritization WSJF: Best practices for using WSJF effectively
WSJF is a simple yet powerful prioritisation technique used in SAFe environments. While it is a straightforward method to implement, there are certain things to consider which will help its usage at a maximum efficacy some of them include:
- Define the factors (Business value, time criticality, risk reduction) very clearly to everyone in the team so that everyone speaks the same language
- Involve multiple stakeholders like POs, SMs, RTE and team members when estimating the scores
- Keep job size simple and relative and avoid exact hours or man days
- Keep reviewing and updating the scores as business priorities may change
- Ensure WSJF as a direction and understand that it is not absolute
Safe Weighted Shortest Job First: Application in Real-World Agile Environments
WSJF has been very powerful in prioritizing work especially in organisations where SAFe has been implemented. Let’s take a look at some of the examples where it has helped some teams to prioritise:
- Example 1: In an e-commerce website, there were two features which were in contention for a launch, “1 click checkout” and “Wishlist”.
- In this case 1 click checkout offers high value and also time critical for holiday season
- Whereas wishlist is does add value but can be done post holiday season
- Result : 1 click checkout features takes priority here as delaying it would increase the loss of revenue during holiday season
- Example 2: In a health care application, there is a bug that is crashing the app on iOS and there is a feature of adding sorting of doctors in contention
- In this case bug fixing is time critical and risk reduction of losing patients are high
- Whereas sorting does add value but can be done later
- Result : Bug fixing takes priority here as delaying it would increase the churn
- Example 3: A startup with small dev team are deciding if they should improve the UI or integrate a new payment gateway
- In this case payment gateway helps in increasing the monetizing
- UI Improvements are good to have and does not impact the revenue immediately
- Result : Payment gateway is priority here as it directly increases the ROI of development efforts
Practical Implementation of WSJF
Implementation of SAFe WSJF is a fairly straightforward process. There are some best practices which are mentioned in the section above. However, here is the step by step approach to practically implement scaled agile WSJF:
- First start with awareness workshop or training on the concept to onboard everyone
- Explain all the components in the framework
- Set scales and definition for each component so as to have a common understanding
- Decide on the relative estimation type for job size
- Take a sample work item and clearly facilitate teams and stakeholders in scaling all three components
- For the sample work item also estimate using the estimation type decided
- Calculate the WSJF score for the workitem
- Repeat the the above 3 steps for a few backlog items
- Rank the backlog items by revisiting the parameters continuously
- Get consensus on the priority which has been derived using the WSJF method
- Repeat until the team gets used to the framework
Scaledagileframework.com WSJF: Official SAFe perspectives
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) emphasizes weighted shortest job first (WSJF) as a key prioritisation model to sequence work for maximum economic benefit. WSJF is calculated by dividing the Cost of Delay by the Job Duration which helps teams prioritize tasks that deliver the highest value in the shortest time.
In SAFe, WSJF is particularly used during planning interval planning (PI Planning). Features and capabilities are reviewed and prioritized at PI cadences using WSJF ensuring the team focuses on delivering maximum value work first.
How Benzne Consulting Helps Organizations with WSJF?
Benzne is one of the best SAFe agile consulting firms with our expert consultants having extensive experience in designing and implementing multiple outcome driven, timebound SAFe transformations. With more than 25+ customers under our portfolio, we are one of the award winning agile transformation company. Here is how our expert coaches can help organisations with WSJF:
- Provide training and awareness workshops on the WSJF framework and practices needed
- Facilitation of prioritisation for a pilot work item
- Coaching and handholding for one PI and create success stories
- Cross pollinate the framework for multiple ARTs
- Provide continuous support, observe and provide feedback, and guidance on implementing the practices and by resolving challenges
- Create adequate knowledge base with playbooks, guides and manuals
Conclusion
Weighted Shortest Job First is more than just a formula or a framework. It is a shift in the way we look at prioritising work. Understanding the core of WSJF, that is the importance of Cost of Delay, Job Size and bringing in economic value, teams can make better, informed and data driven decisions that can deliver maximum value quickly.
Not just in SAFe environments or enterprises, WSJF can be used in Startups and medium scale organizations as it brings structured, objective and value based ways to prioritize and reduce perspective based, assumptions based, demand driven decision making. It brings data backed clarity against intuition and politics into planning sessions.
With this, our blog on “What is WSJF” comes to an end and we sincerely hope this has given you the understanding of WSJF and its concepts in detail. Please write to us at consult@benzne.com for any feedback or suggestions or if you want Benzne agile transformation company to support your organizational agile transformation journey.
Frequently Asked Questions About WSJF
1. Can WSJF be applied outside of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)?
Yes, absolutely. WSJF prioritisation can be applied to even startups or mid scale companies irrespective of the domain or services. WSJF basically helps teams to decide what to work on first so that you get the most value in the shortest amount of time. And is used where teams want to get towards data backed decision making versus stakeholder driven, assumptions or even political decisions influences prioritization.
2. Is WSJF only useful for software development?
No, it is a generic and universal prioritization method that can be applied across various industries and functions where there is a need to make value based decisions with limited bandwidth.
3. Can WSJF be used for personal productivity and task management?
Yes, WSJF can play a vital role in prioritizing personal tasks as well, here are a few ways in which it can be useful,
- Focus on the high impact tasks first
- Reduces procrastination on important tasks
- Gives you a structured way of looking at your task rather than going with the mood
4. Does WSJF work well in small teams and startups?
Yes, WSJF works extremely well in startups and smaller teams. Let’s look at some points as to how it would work in smaller teams,
- Helps them utilizing their limited bandwidth and time to create high impact/value work items
- Simple and quick decision making with numeric data
- Brings everyone on the same page and focus on delivering them with alignment
- Adapt quickly to changing priorities
- Ensures best ROI for the limited time and resources
