Business analysis glossary
MoSCoW Prioritisation
What it is
MoSCoW is a way to rank requirements into Must have, Should have, Could have and Won't have (this time). It forces an honest conversation about what is essential for a release and what can wait. Must have items are those without which the release fails or is illegal; Should and Could items add value but can be dropped if time runs out.
Why it matters
When time or budget is short, not everything can be a priority. MoSCoW makes trade-offs visible and agreed rather than decided silently late in the project. The Won't category matters just as much, because it records what has been consciously postponed and keeps hopeful requests from sneaking back in.
Example
For the first release of the Cedar Credit Union loan app, "submit application" is a Must, "save and resume" is a Should, "dark mode" is a Could and "voice assistant" is a Won't for now. Dropping the Could and Should items first when the schedule slips lets the team still deliver a usable first release on time.