When working on a project, it is natural to think that all ideas, tasks, or features are of equal importance. But to truly hit the bull’s-eye with your design, you have to recognize what matters most to people, and aim for that as your goal. It will help ensure your design’s effectiveness in the world and will uphold the value of a human-centered approach. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize so you can focus on the essentials and subordinate the rest.

By design, a Bull’s-eye Diagram puts a limit on how much you can identify as critical, thus forcing your team to deliberate about essentials before producing anything. Since each successive circle is larger than the bull’s-eye, you must carefully consider what is critical, what is important, and what is merely peripheral. Often this means having to make trade-off decisions. The result, however, is a clear delineation of your team’s consensus about each item’s relative importance. It is a comparatively simple method of making difficult decisions.

• Helps you determine what is most essential.
• Facilitates productive discussion.
• Builds consensus.
• Helps your team develop a plan of action.

• Identify a project that requires prioritization.
• Make a large poster with 3 concentric circles.
• Label the circles: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary.
• Form a team to conduct an analysis. Gather a set of data (e.g., issues, features, etc).
• Divide the data into small units.
• Print small strips of paper or write on sticky notes.
• Debate the relative importance of each item.
• Plot the data on the target, and set priorities.

• Size the center ring to fit a limited number of items.
• Enforce a time limit on each round of deliberation.
• Remember that tertiary doesn’t mean irrelevant.