The bull's eye diagram is a useful tool that can help teams to establish priorities before making decisions. As its name suggests, the chart resembles a bull's eye, with the highest priority items placed in the innermost circle, those of medium priority in the middle circle, and those with lower priority in the largest circle.
One of the key advantages of using this diagram is that it can prevent gridlock. When every task on your list appears to be equally important, teams may struggle to make decisions and gain momentum. This feeling of being overwhelmed by tasks can cause teams to become stuck and unable to move forward. However, by using the bull's eye diagram, this problem can be easily solved through its design. By placing high-priority items into the smallest circle, it forces you to adjust lesser priorities around them. This approach helps prevent team members from becoming overwhelmed with a long list of high-priority items and allows them to focus on what truly matters most.
When to use a bull’s eye diagram
Whenever you need to establish priorities, make important decisions, or work through a process with your team and overcome obstacles, the bull's eye chart can be a useful tool. Teams often encounter difficulties when making significant decisions, leading to gridlock. By using bull's eye diagrams, teams can break down complex decisions into smaller ones and arrange tasks into the diagram based on their level of importance.
This approach empowers the team to prioritize tasks effectively and avoid becoming overwhelmed by an extensive list of high-priority items. Therefore, whether you are trying to reach a critical decision or discussing a process with your team, using a bull's eye diagram can help streamline the decision-making process and ensure that everyone is aligned towards achieving shared goals.
Create your own bull’s eye chart
When it comes to organizing tasks and establishing priorities, an online canvas can be a game-changer for your team. By listing tasks on this platform, you can easily move information related to new tasks added to the bull's eye diagram. Once you have prioritized these tasks in the chart, you can then reorganize and rearrange them as needed. This approach enables your team to see relationships and categories between different tasks, making reprioritization a breeze.
Overall, the bull's eye diagram is a simple yet effective tool that helps clarify project priorities in an easily understandable format.
Creating your own bull's eye diagrams has never been easier thanks to FigJam's virtual collaboration platform. With its intuitive interface and advanced features, you can quickly create and share your diagrams with others.
To effectively use the bull's eye diagram, there are two essential steps you should follow:
Step 1: Define your goal.
Before diving into the diagram itself, it is crucial to align your team on a clear and specific goal. Whether you are trying to make a decision or overcome a challenge, articulating your objective beforehand can help ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Step 2: Create a task list.
Once you have established your goal, it's time to brainstorm all the tasks required to achieve it. At this stage, don't worry about prioritization or timelines; instead, focus on getting all of these tasks down on paper. If you're working with a team on this process, consider giving each member some time to create their own list of tasks before consolidating them into one master list.
Step 3: Start with the largest circle.
It is recommended to begin by filling out the largest part of the circle. Focusing on low-stakes items first can help prevent getting stuck in decision-making for high-priority tasks. Review your list of tasks and identify any that may not be necessary to achieve your goal or are "nice-to-haves" rather than "need-to-haves." It can be helpful to give each team member some time to think about these lower-priority items before discussing them as a group.
Step 4: Move on to the middle circle.
Next, consider medium-priority tasks. These items are important but do not require immediate attention. The middle circle is smaller than the low-priority one, making it more challenging to narrow down your tasks. This step requires discussion with your teammates and reaching a consensus on which medium-priority tasks should be included in this section of the diagram.
Step 5: Fill in the smallest circle with your mission-critical priorities.
Since this section is the smallest, you must be selective and can only include a few priorities. Review your list of tasks and identify high-priority items that are necessary conditions for completing the project. Consider which two or three tasks are vital to achieving your goal. It's essential to discuss these priorities with your team members before finalizing them.
