WSJF calculator
WSJF — weighted shortest job first — is cost of delay divided by job size. Cost of delay is itself the sum of user and business value, time criticality, and risk reduction or opportunity enablement, each scored on a relative scale.
WSJF, step by step
The three parts of cost of delay answer three different questions. User and business value is what it is worth if you ship it. Time criticality is how fast that value decays — a feature tied to a regulatory deadline or a competitor’s launch scores high, an evergreen improvement scores low. Risk reduction and opportunity enablement is what it unlocks for the work after it, which is how infrastructure earns a place on a list it would otherwise always lose.
Dividing by job size, rather than estimating a date, is what makes WSJF work for a programme rather than a sprint. The highest score is the job that buys the most delayed cost per unit of work, which is mathematically the order that maximises value delivered over any fixed period.
Where this number misleads you
WSJF uses relative scales, usually a modified Fibonacci sequence, so the inputs mean nothing outside the set they were scored against. Scoring a single item in isolation produces a number with no meaning. Score the whole candidate list in one session, with the people who disagree in the room — the argument is the value, not the arithmetic.
Questions people ask
What is the WSJF formula?
WSJF = cost of delay ÷ job size, where cost of delay = user and business value + time criticality + risk reduction or opportunity enablement. All four inputs are scored on a relative scale across the candidates you are comparing, not in absolute units.
What scale should I use for WSJF inputs?
SAFe recommends a modified Fibonacci sequence — 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20 — and scoring each column relative to the smallest item in that column, which is given a 1. Fibonacci gaps stop the room arguing over whether something is a 6 or a 7, a distinction the estimate cannot support anyway.
Is WSJF better than RICE?
They answer different questions. RICE asks which feature is worth the most per person-month, using a real reach figure. WSJF asks which job to start next when everything is urgent and delay itself is the cost. WSJF suits programme-level sequencing; RICE suits a product backlog.
When one number is not the job
This page works out one number. PikoPM’s Prioritisation scores your whole backlog at once, from a paste or a Jira board, and writes the argument for the order.
Open Prioritisation — it needs an account, and the Free plan covers it.