What is weighted shortest job first?
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) Is a priority approach used to order jobs (e.g., Features, Capabilities, and Epics). In SAFe, Weighted Shortest Job First is calculated by dividing the Cost of Delay (CoD) by the number of jobs.
When it comes to task prioritizing, weighted shortest job first, or Weighted Shortest Job First, is a technique that has its origins in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAF). It is a scoring mechanism that enables businesses to better understand the impact of work sequencing on their operations.
When reduced to its most basic form, weighted shortest job first can be determined by dividing the cost implication of postponing a job by the projected time of the job. The cost of delay divided by the job duration equals the Weighted Shortest Job First value.
The Benefits of The Weighted Shortest Job First Method
Following the division of the cost of delay by the total job duration for all jobs under consideration, you will arrive at a value referred to as the Weighted Shortest Job First value. The project with the highest Weighted Shortest Job First value will be completed in the shortest time or at the lowest possible cost of delay.
The Weighted Shortest Job First approach can be used by any team in an organization to sequence any effort. Marketing teams can use it to assess which projects or campaigns would provide the best return on investment for the organization. Product teams can use it to determine which company that wishes to succeed in a competitive market should prioritize things on the product backlog.
You can generate a score for each item on your backlog using the outlined techniques and then choose the highest-scoring items for the top spots on your roadmap.
How to Implement Weighted Shortest Job First
While it may appear basic, determining the duration of a job can be difficult. Nonetheless, it is required for the Weighted Shortest Job First algorithm.
It is possible to obtain figures that are so enormous that they become meaningless when calculating the number of employee hours.
But first, we need to understand the cost of delay (CoD). It requires a few steps:
The first is Estimated Business Value: How beneficial to our organization is this feature? How much money will be made? Or, how many customers will we retain? Or, what cost will we reduce?
To that, we add Time Criticality: How fast do we need to get this feature out before we start losing customers?
Finally, we add Risk Reduction or Opportunity Enablement: Will this feature reduce our risk or help us get new business?
As a result, allocating a value based on the projected number of workers every month is more efficient.
When determining the Weighted Shortest Job First value, you can substitute job size for job length if you are uncertain how long projects will take. For technical development tasks, you might use the amount of Cost Of delay needed. The amount of collateral required for marketing projects is significant. And so forth. Keep in mind that these are estimates and should be considered in the context of the other projects under discussion.
