Last week I talked about how stakeholder management is all about building trust. This week I'm going to give you tactical advice on how to do that.
I am about to tell you about my all time favourite workshop (I know, crazy sentence to utter). And stakeholders are integral to it.
I love it, they love it, it's great. They become a part of the decision making process and get to know the team. The team get insight into what other teams are dealing with. It's an all around winner.
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That's right, you guessed it. I'm talking about the Value/Effort Workshop.
It’s simple, fun, and gets everyone on the same page.
Dev team knows the effort.
Customer teams know the value.
✨ Put them together and voilà ✨
Here’s how I run it:
Collect your product feedback. If there’s a lot, filter by most requested & most aligned with your goals. (Bonus: you can run this per product area to keep it focused or gather user problems and map those!!)
Map ideas on a value vs effort matrix. I like to prep stickies in a whiteboard tool so we can easily move things around during the session
Align - you've got all the ingredients, it's time to mix ‘em up! Invite the right people: devs, CS, sales… whoever brings context.
See below an example of the matrix.
Low Effort/High Value - do it now! These are your low hanging fruit.
High Effort/High Value - do it next! Break them down into smaller pieces while you work on the low hanging fruit.
Low Effort/Low Value - do it if you get the time.
High Effort/Low Value - drop them entirely.
Why it works so well:
✅ It’s fun and collaborative (even more fun if you throw an icebreaker in there)
🕵️ You dig deeper on feedback together (CS answers questions, dev gives reality checks)
🚀 You end up with shared clarity and understanding
And the outcome?
💥 A quick win list
🧭 A shortlist for proper discovery (ie the high value/high effort pile)
❌ A shared understanding of what won’t make the cut (which is just as valuable)
If you’ve never done a value/effort session with your stakeholders… I 10/10 recommend.
💬 Have you ever run one of these? What’s your best tip to make it work?