Less but better
Why the Impact/Effort matrix suits lean product teams
As a product leader who's worked across startups and the Fortune 25, I’ve implemented prioritization frameworks galore: RICE, MoSCoW, you name it.
They all have merit.
But when teams need to move fast and stay aligned, I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend the simplest and most enduring of them all: the Impact/Effort matrix.
Why? Because clarity and speed are often more important than perfection.
For small- to mid-sized software companies, where decision-making bottlenecks are as lethal as tech debt, this framework can be a game-changer. It accelerates consensus, builds transparency and gives teams a shared language for ruthless prioritization. Most importantly, it scales from gut-check brainstorms to stakeholder roadshows.
I’m not alone in valuing this level of simplicity.
Dieter Rams, the legendary industrial designer behind Braun and a guiding light for generations of designers and product leaders, championed the philosophy of "Weniger, aber besser", Less but better. Rams’ influence echoes through modern product development, including the prioritization systems many companies rely on today.
As Sophie Lovell documents in “Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible” (Phaidon, 2011), Rams’ emphasis on clarity, function and purpose laid the groundwork for making better decisions by doing less.
What Makes Impact/Effort effective?
The matrix distills choices into four quadrants:
Do (High Impact, Low-Medium Effort): Obvious wins to be prioritized
Decide (High Impact, High Effort): Worth the investment, but needs scrutiny
Defer (Medium-Low Impact, Low Effort): Save for when bandwidth allows
Delete (Low Impact, High-Medium Effort): Better skipped for higher ROI items
What’s powerful is how quickly this lens can be applied. And when coupled with clear criteria for what “impact” means, it becomes not just fast but smart.
The 5 Impact factors
In my work as both a product leader and consultant, I recommend "Impact" be evaluated through five lenses:
Customer demand with broad applicability: If many users request it or it benefits a wide segment, the ROI on effort spikes.
Performance or Reliability gains: Enhancements that reduce friction or instability create long-tail value and reduce costs.
Revenue enablement or expansion: Features tied to sales, monetization or customer expansion often justify expedited delivery.
Clear competitive differentiation: Standing out in the market, even with small innovations, can tilt customer decisions your way.
Regulatory compliance or Security requirements: Sometimes the highest-impact move is simply avoiding future legal or operational headaches.
Great frameworks don’t just inform decisions they ignite them. The Impact/Effort matrix does exactly that.
When backed by thoughtful criteria and a shared philosophy of doing “less but better,” it becomes more than a tool. It becomes a mindset.
And for many teams today, that mindset is invaluable.
