Taming the Revenue Operations Beast
You’ve seen it before. The quarterly planning meeting wraps up, and the list of potential Go-To-Market (GTM) projects is a mile long. Launch a new feature. Expand to Europe. Build a partner channel. Overhaul the sales deck. Redo the website's pricing page. They all sound important. They all have passionate advocates. And they all require a slice of the same finite pie: time, budget, and talent.
What happens next is usually a slow, painful process of back-channel conversations, competing spreadsheets, and siloed arguments. Momentum stalls. By the time a decision is made, the market opportunity may have already shifted.
There is a better way. It’s not a complex algorithm or an expensive software suite. It’s a whiteboard, some sticky notes, and a structured conversation called a 2x2 prioritization matrix. As a facilitator, this is one of the most powerful tools in my arsenal for cutting through complexity and getting senior leaders to a decisive, aligned path forward—fast.
What is a 2x2 Matrix?
At its core, a 2x2 matrix is a visual tool that plots items across two axes, creating four distinct quadrants. Its power lies not in its scientific precision, but in its ability to force a structured, relative comparison. Instead of asking "Is this project important?" (the answer is always yes), it asks, "Compared to this other project, is this more or less impactful? Does it require more or less effort?"
This simple reframing changes the entire dynamic of the conversation.
The Scenario: Prioritizing Our GTM Projects
Let's imagine we're heading into H1 and have a list of potential GTM projects on the table:
Project Alpha: Launch Product A in the EMEA market.
Project Bravo: Develop a self-serve partner certification program.
Project Charlie: Run a large-scale brand awareness campaign targeting a new industry vertical.
Project Delta: Re-platform our e-commerce checkout process.
Project Echo: Create a freemium tier for our core software product.
Each of these has a different sponsor in the executive team (Head of Sales, Head of Marketing, Head of Product, etc.), and they all believe their project is "P0." Our job is to facilitate a session to get them aligned on what we'll actually tackle.
The Facilitation Walkthrough: From Chaos to Clarity in 90 Minutes
Effective facilitation is about 90% preparation and 10% in-room execution. Here’s how to run the session.
Step 1: Pre-Work is Non-Negotiable
Define the Objective: Be crystal clear. Our goal is: "To identify and align on the top 2-3 GTM priorities for H1 that the entire leadership team will commit to."
Choose Your Axes: This is the most critical step. The axes must reflect the strategic trade-offs your company needs to make right now. For GTM projects, a classic and effective set of axes is Business Impact vs. Effort to Implement.
Y-Axis (Vertical): Business Impact. This could be a blend of potential revenue, strategic alignment, market share capture, or customer retention. Before the meeting, define what "high impact" means. Is it >$5M in pipeline? Is it entering a key strategic market? Write it on the board.
X-Axis (Horizontal): Effort to Implement. This axis should run from Low Effort on the left to High Effort on the right. "Effort" can include engineering hours, marketing spend, sales training time, and operational complexity.
Brief Participants: Send out the list of projects, the objective, and the chosen axes 24 hours in advance. Ask them to come prepared to discuss the relative impact and effort of each.
Step 2: Kicking Off The Session
In the room (or on the virtual whiteboard), draw your 2x2 framework.
State the Objective: Remind everyone why they are here.
Explain the Axes: Walk through what "High/Low Business Impact" and "Low/High Effort" mean in this context. Get verbal agreement from the group. This is crucial. If they don't buy into the framework, they won't buy into the outcome.
Set Ground Rules: One conversation at a time. This is about relative placement, not perfect numbers. The goal is alignment, not winning an argument.
Step 3: The Plotting Exercise (The Fun Part)
Write each project on a separate sticky note. Start with one project and ask the group:
"Okay, let's take Project Alpha: Launch in EMEA. Where does this fall on Business Impact?"
Let the Head of Sales argue for high impact, but then let the Head of Engineering temper the discussion with the reality of localization costs. Your job as a facilitator is not to have the answer, but to ask probing questions: "What data supports that impact estimate?" "When you say 'high effort,' what specific resources does that include?"
Place the first sticky note. Now, pick the second one.
"Next, Project Echo: Create a freemium tier. Compared to the EMEA launch, does this have a higher or lower business impact? Does it require more or less effort?"
This relative comparison is magic. It forces trade-offs. The freemium project might have a huge long-term impact but also be a massive engineering effort, placing it far to the right. The partner program might be lower effort but also have a more modest, predictable impact.
Continue this process for all the projects, debating and moving the stickies until the group reaches a rough consensus on their placement.
Step 4: The Four Quadrants and What They Mean
Once everything is plotted, label your four quadrants.
Quick Wins(High Impact, Low Effort)Fill-ins / Thankless Tasks(Low Impact, Low Effort)Strategic Initiatives(High Impact, High Effort)Money Pits / Avoid(Low Impact, High Effort)
Quick Wins (Top-Left): These are the no-brainers. Do them now. Your partner certification program might land here. It’s high-leverage work.
Strategic Initiatives (Top-Right): These are the big bets that can change the trajectory of the business. They require significant investment and meticulous planning. The EMEA launch and freemium tier likely live here.
Fill-ins (Bottom-Left): These are nice-to-have projects that can be done if there are spare cycles, but they shouldn't distract from the top priorities.
Money Pits (Bottom-Right): These are the dangerous ones. They consume massive resources for little return. The re-platforming project might end up here if its impact isn't clearly tied to a major business outcome. The matrix makes it visually obvious why you should avoid these.
Step 5: Decision and Commitment
Now, look at the board and bring it back to the objective.
"Okay, we agreed to select 2-3 priorities. The board makes it clear that we should execute on our 'Quick Win' immediately. For our big bet, which of the two 'Strategic Initiatives' can we realistically resource and commit to winning in H1?"
The visual evidence makes this final debate infinitely more productive. You might decide on the partner program (Quick Win) and the EMEA launch (Strategic Initiative), while officially placing the freemium project on the roadmap for H2, with clear dependencies outlined.
Assign an owner to each selected project right there in the room and define the immediate next step (e.g., "Sarah will come back in one week with a detailed project scope for the EMEA launch.").
The Real Superpower: Why Executive Facilitation Changes the Game
Running this process with senior leaders is fundamentally different than doing it with a project team. The value isn't just the final list; it's the process of getting there.
It Creates Shared Ownership: When the CRO, CMO, and CPO collectively decide where to place the sticky notes, the resulting plan is no longer "the marketing plan" or "the sales plan." It becomes "our plan." This drastically reduces downstream friction and passive-aggressive resistance.
It Surfaces Misalignments Safely: The 2x2 matrix acts as a neutral, objective third party. A debate about whether a sticky note should be higher or lower is far less confrontational than directly telling a fellow executive their pet project isn't a priority. It depersonalizes the conflict and focuses it on the business logic.
It Forces Strategic Trade-Offs: In one-on-one conversations, it's easy for every leader to make a case for their project in a vacuum. In a 2x2 session, resources are visualized as a zero-sum game. Placing one project in the "Strategic Initiatives" quadrant means another might not fit. It forces leaders to think like enterprise-level owners, not just functional heads.
It Radically Accelerates Decision-Making: This 90-minute session replaces what is often weeks or months of disconnected email threads, bilateral meetings, and hallway conversations. By getting all the decision-makers in one room with a clear framework, you collapse the timeline and exit with a decision that everyone heard and agreed to in real-time.
The next time your GTM strategy feels like a tug-of-war, resist the urge to build a more complicated spreadsheet. Grab a whiteboard, draw two lines, and start facilitating a conversation. The clarity and velocity you unlock will be game-changing.
