The two-by-two (2x2) grid (matrix) is a tool to show your thing is good and everything else is some version of bad (too slow, too expensive, unimportant, etc). It’s often used to make bold claims about competitive landscape.
A better use of the 2x2 is to help managers understand how to support and motivate their people.
Quick Outline:
The impact-effort 2x2 helps prioritize individual work.
Managers and reports don’t always agree on where to plot projects on the grid. Those disagreements highlight three common miscommunications:
What makes a project important
Which projects are easy
Which projects allow for professional development (and joy)
2x2 for Individual Work Planning
The people who get excited about the 2x2 below tend to be well-intentioned rule-followers (I’m usually one of those). It’s an impact-effort grid for prioritization and a simple way to compare apples and oranges when it comes to workload.
The basics here are great for anyone busy with lots of different projects:
Prioritize the work that will make a big difference but isn’t hard (top-right 🤠)
Carve out some time for the stuff that requires planning (top-left 🧐)
As convenient, get some quick (yet small) wins (bottom-right 🙄)
Avoid the rest (bottom-left 🤮)
Eventually, the process becomes natural and you won’t need to actually draw up the 2x2 for your own work. You’ll notice patterns. My projects tend to look something like this:
Do bread & butter projects that are easy and valuable (top-right 🤠)
Plan out new stuff because new initiatives are always harder (top-left 🧐)
Fit slight improvements around other priorities (bottom-right 🙄)
Shelve bad ideas (bottom-left 🤮)
I know I’m spending too much time in the bottom-right (🙄) if I feel like I’m getting a lot done but no one (including me) really notices or cares. I know I’m spending too much time in the top-left (🧐) if I feel like I haven’t gotten a win in forever.
Vague Axes
The main criticism of 2x2s is that the axes are often imprecise. This can be helpful if you’re goal is to make (exaggerated?) claims of your startup’s competitive advantages. But it’s a problem when using the 2x2 for project prioritization: Managers and reports will disagree on where to put projects in the matrix.
People run into the same issues when it comes time to put their work in the impact-effort 2x2:
Different definitions of impact
Different definitions of effort
Bias for favorite/fun projects
These disagreements are helpful for managers to better understand what keeps their people happy and productive. And it’s especially helpful for new teams or duos.
Impact: What matters?
When articulating impact, you’re describing the value of a project. Why does it matter if this work succeeds (or fails)? Often, you can tie that value to the big picture (revenue, cost-savings, mission, etc), which can lead to debates on the leadership level: Which initiatives make the biggest difference on the bottom line?
When using this 2x2 for individual work planning (as opposed to department planning or company strategy) managers and reports will discuss more tangible impact. How will this project get you to your individual or department goals?
Disagreements on a project’s impact can explain poor performance or sloppiness. Imagine this scenario:
You have a hard, important project that your employee is working on.
You think of this as a top-left (🧐) project and expect thorough planning to deliver a good result.
Meanwhile, your report recognized that the work is hard, but judged it to be a low-impact project.
They put it in the bottom-left (🤮). They’ll put in the minimum effort because they think a mediocre result isn’t a big deal.
In this case, the report will think they’re being strategic with their time. They’re avoiding a bad project and focusing on more meaningful work. As their manager, you might think their sloppiness is a skills problem or attitude issue.
Our trusty impact-effort 2x2 can help guide a conversation to reprioritize the work. At first, that might mean drawing a big 2x2 on a whiteboard and having a chat. Or, if matrix-plotting is not really this duo’s style, it’s about discussing a project relative to what else is on the docket. Why does it matter if this project succeeds? “Impact” can be measured in so many ways. It’s a worthy debate for a manager and report to compare projects and decide on what best archives their goals.
Effort: What’s Easy?
The other vague axis causes problems too. When we talk about effort, usually we’re talking about company resources. What will it take to make this happen? How much time? How much money? How many people? That part is relatively straightforward (though time-tracking is a nightmare at small companies - that’s for another time).
Managers also need to learn what’s hard and easy for the people doing the work. This can change how you might plot something on the effort axis.
This 2x2 looks more specifically at impact vs employee effort:
Work that is high-impact and comes naturally to your employee is great news (top-right 🤠)! Get that person opportunities to train others, document their approach, and a chance to develop that specialty.
Hard and important work needs training, more oversight, or some other intervention (top-left 🧐). Better to catch that early and be clear about skill development. Knowing when to invest in training vs when to do yourself is one of the hardest decisions busy managers make.
The easy-unimportant work is good for downtime and is ok to postpone (bottom-right 🙄). Or it’s about applying that skill set to more relevant projects.
The hard-unimportant work should be skipped or minimized (bottom-left 🤮). If it’s unimportant but still needs to get done by your report, you might need a new system (can you automate this?). Too much work here and you’ll end up with a demotivated employee.
Employee Motivation
The third way I see the impact-effort 2x2 get derailed is from a bias toward fun projects. People plot their favorites in the top right, even if that work is not the easiest or most impactful. Again, that’s because 2x2s are often manipulative pseudoscience.
Managers need to know how their people want to grow. That conversation either requires another axis on the impact-effort 2x2. Or (my preference), it’s a separate grid: impact vs professional development.
It’s most valuable for everyone (and the business) to connect learning and development opportunities with relevant and important projects:
It’s a good match when your report learns and grows from work that’s important to the business (top-right 🤠). Managers want to make this work happen as often as possible.
Consider opportunities to train new people to take on the boring, important work (top-left 🧐). Or find ways to reduce the scope of the project so less time is needed. (We’ll revisit rescoping another time)
Great professional development is always good for business. That said, there isn’t always a relevant project to apply new skills (bottom-right 🙄). Help the employee understand opportunities for side projects and help them fit this around higher-impact work).
Avoid the work that doesn’t build professional skills and is low-impact for the business. If it’s something your employee enjoys, it’s probably more of a hobby (bottom-left 🤮).
As managers, we tend to better understand the impact axis than the professional development axis. We might be able to point out areas for skill development, but it’s separate work to understand how our people want to grow.
Just like a miscommunication about impact, a misunderstanding about professional development can lead to poor performance or sloppiness. Imagine this scenario:
You have a hard, important project that your employee has done before.
You think of this as a top-right (🤠) project because it fits their growing skillset and they seemed to like the project last time.
Meanwhile, your report recognizes that the work is important, but doesn’t enjoy it (top-left 🧐). Perhaps this is because they’ve mastered the basics already and the excitement of learning is gone.
The result? Your report puts in minimal effort, gets frustrated, and assumes you don’t care about their development.
A conversation with this 2x2 is especially helpful when the manager and report have different expertise. This was true for me when I managed creatives. I had a hard time knowing what work my video and graphics folks liked because I didn’t always know what projects required learning a new skill. I learned that acquiring new tricks is quite important to most creatives and their professional development. Discussing what projects could allow for skill development was a breakthrough.
Recap:
The impact-effort 2x2 helps prioritize individual work.
Managers and reports don’t always agree on where to plot projects on the grid. Those disagreements highlight three common miscommunications:
What makes a project important
What projects are easy
What projects allow for professional development (and joy!)