You're scoring how hard each opportunity is to implement. Difficulty is about execution cost, not how impressive the idea sounds.
Step 1: Define Difficulty Factors
Score each opportunity based on:
- Number of systems involved
- Data readiness
- Level of process change required
- Technical complexity
- Risk level
More dependencies mean higher difficulty.
Step 2: Use a Simple Scale
Score each factor from:
- 1 (Low Difficulty)
- 2 (Medium Difficulty)
- 3 (High Difficulty)
Avoid decimals or complex math.
Step 3: Sum the Scores
Add all factor scores to get a total difficulty score.
Lower totals mean easier execution.
Step 4: Sanity Check the Score
Ask:
- Could this realistically be delivered in under 90 days?
- Would one team own most of the work?
- Are there unknowns that could stall progress?
If not, reconsider the score.
Step 5: Final Difficulty Label
Assign one label:
- Low Difficulty
- Medium Difficulty
- High Difficulty
What You Should Have Now
✅ Opportunity Difficulty Scores
✅ Difficulty label per opportunity
✅ Notes explaining high scores
Quality Check
- Scoring is consistent across opportunities
- Complexity is not underestimated
- Unknowns are acknowledged
- Labels are easy to defend
Next Step: With difficulty scored, you're ready to score value.
Ready to turn this into action? See how our quarterly partnership works → OpsSystem.ai