Overview
MoSCoW is a prioritisation technique used to reach shared understanding about the relative importance of requirements for a specific release. Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have this time.
When to Use
Release scoping, sprint planning, and stakeholder negotiation — particularly when scope must be cut to meet a deadline.
How to Apply It
- MUST HAVE: Non-negotiable — without it the release fails or cannot ship
- SHOULD HAVE: Important but not vital — painful to exclude but release still works
- COULD HAVE: Nice to have — small impact if excluded, included only if time permits
- WON'T HAVE (this time): Explicitly out of scope for this release
- Must Haves should be less than 60% of total effort
- Revisit at every sprint or release boundary
Examples in Practice
🎵 Spotify
For a podcast player MVP: MUST = play, pause, resume, episode list, subscription. SHOULD = offline download, variable playback speed. COULD = sleep timer, chapter navigation. WON'T = social sharing, listener communities, video podcasts. This makes trade-offs explicit and prevents scope creep in early sprints.
📊 Trade Surveillance
Please contact the author for more information on these examples at linkedin.com/in/kshitijrege
Common Pitfalls
- Everything becoming a Must Have when stakeholders aren't forced to make real trade-offs
- Treating Won't Have as 'rejected forever' — it means 'not this release, revisit later'
- Not having a clear decision-maker for disputes — the PM must own final classification
Origin
Dai Clegg, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
1994
Further Reading
- DSDM Agile Project Framework
Related Frameworks