WSJF calculator
Weighted Shortest Job First puts the work that costs the most to delay, relative to its size, at the top of the backlog. It's the prioritisation method used in the Scaled Agile Framework, and this calculator does the maths as you score.
Updated
The short answer
WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) ranks work by cost of delay divided by job size. Cost of delay is the sum of three relative scores: user-business value, time criticality, and risk reduction or opportunity enablement. Score each column relative to the other items, using 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 or 20, and do the highest WSJF first.
New to WSJF? Start here
WSJF answers one question: what will it cost us to wait? Work that is valuable, urgent and unlocks other work, but is small, goes first. Everything is scored relative to the other items on the list, so there are no absolute right answers, only comparisons.
User-business value
“Compared with the others, how much will customers or the business gain?”
- High:
- 20: the most valuable item on the list
- Low:
- 1: the least valuable
Time criticality
“Does the value drop if we wait?”
- High:
- 20: a hard deadline this PI, or value lost if we're late
- Low:
- 1: no penalty for waiting
Risk reduction / opportunity enablement
“Does it remove a risk or unlock other work?”
- High:
- 20: blocks several other features, or removes a major risk
- Low:
- 1: does neither
Job size
“How big is it compared with the others?”
- High:
- 20: the largest item
- Low:
- 1: the smallest
Cost of delay = value + time criticality + risk reduction. WSJF = cost of delay ÷ job size. Highest goes first.
Why the numbers are 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20
The gaps grow as the numbers get bigger, because nobody can tell the difference between a 14 and a 15, but everyone can tell a 5 from an 8. Using only these numbers stops arguments about false precision.
How to score, step by step
- List the features you're choosing between.
- Score ONE column at a time, across every feature. Never score a whole row at once.
- In each column, find the smallest item and give it 1.
- Score every other item relative to that one: "is it about twice as much? three times?" and pick the nearest number.
- Repeat for all four columns. Business owners are best placed for value and time criticality; engineers for risk reduction and job size.
- Sort by WSJF. Enabling work often rises to the top, and that's usually right.
Score your features
- Business value
- Time criticality
- Risk reduction
PI 3 2026 features
Example data4 features| Cost of delay = sum of these three | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Feature | Business value | Time criticality | Risk reduction | Cost of delay | Job size | WSJF |
| 1 | Orbit Data Platform | 46 | 5.8DO FIRST | ||||
| 2 | Pulse Analytics | 31 | 3.9 | ||||
| 3 | Pulse Analytics | 19 | 3.8 | ||||
| 4 | Pulse Analytics | 8 | 2.7 | ||||
- #1 · DO FIRSTOrbit Data Platform
Business value
Time criticality
Risk reduction
Job size
Cost of delay46
(13 + 13 + 20) ÷ 8 = 5.8
- #2 · Pulse Analytics
- #3 · Pulse Analytics
- #4 · Pulse Analytics
How to fill it in
- User-business value
- How much users or the business gain. Relative to the other items, not absolute.
- Time criticality
- How fast the value decays if you wait: deadlines, competitor moves, seasonal windows.
- Risk reduction / opportunity enablement
- How much it reduces risk or unlocks other work. Platform and enabling work scores high here.
- Job size
- Relative size or duration. It's a proxy for how long the work blocks the team.
- How to score
- Score one column at a time across all items. Give the smallest item in each column a 1, then size the rest relative to it.
Worked example
"Self-serve dashboards" has the highest user-business value (20), but "Unified ingestion API" wins with 5.8. It's time-critical (13) and unlocks other work (20), so its cost of delay is 46, against 31 for dashboards at the same job size. That's WSJF's main lesson: enabling work that everything else depends on often belongs first, even when it's less visible to users.
Tips for WSJF sessions
- Score column by column, never row by row. Comparing items on one factor at a time keeps scores honest.
- Involve business owners for value and time criticality, and engineers for risk reduction and job size.
- Re-score at every PI planning. Time criticality changes as deadlines approach.
WSJF in a spreadsheet
- Scored at PI planning, then forgotten
- Not linked to the features being delivered
- Dependencies it revealed go untracked
WSJF priorities in Ondule
- Plan the winners as epics in the Program Increment
- Track the dependencies that enabling work unlocks, with due dates
- See progress on the portfolio overview all PI long
How to do this in Ondule
Questions
- How is WSJF calculated?
- Cost of delay divided by job size, where cost of delay = user-business value + time criticality + risk reduction or opportunity enablement.
- Why does WSJF use the Fibonacci-style scale?
- The gaps between 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and 20 grow as numbers get bigger, which reflects how estimates get less precise for larger items and stops false precision.
- What is the difference between WSJF and RICE?
- WSJF weighs time criticality and risk reduction, which suits deadline-driven and platform work. RICE weighs reach and confidence, which suits product ideas with measurable audiences.