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(British English also prioritise) Verb Forms
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According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of prioritization is “to organize (things) so that the most important thing is done or dealt with first.” Sometimes this involves organizing a group of tasks, or things that need to be completed, and ranking them according to different factors including but not limited to, criticalness, whether or not it is time sensitive, and how long it takes to complete each one. This helps us determine what should be focused on to achieve maximum productivity and accomplish more.
Why Prioritization is ImportantEstablishing priorities is necessary in order to complete everything that needs to be done. Prioritization is important because it with allow you to give your attention to tasks that are important and urgent so that you can later focus on lower priority tasks. If you do not take the time to prioritize, then you will have trouble getting things done on time, stress about how you will finish everything on your to-do list, and not be productive. Think of it this way. Everybody has things that need to be done. Often, people keep track everything that they have to do by creating a list. While, a list can be effective to see a birds eye view of you need to take those items and figure out what you need to focus on NOW in order to get things done, work efficiently, and save time and energy. How To PrioritizeTo determine what needs to be done now, you must go through all of your to-do’s and ask yourself a couple of questions.
For example, a work assignment should probably be turned in on the due date to avoid getting reprimanded by your boss (pressing priority), and working on it is probably more important than watching your favorite TV show at 8:00 PM (non obligatory priority). When prioritizing, it is also important to consider where each item ranks in comparison to other items. In addition there are a variety of specific prioritization methods which we talk about in this article to help you prioritize. Prioritizing GoalsAs humans, there is so much that we desire to accomplish in our personal and work lives. For that reason, we must decide which goals to tackle first. To prioritize how goals should be categorized, you need to first list all of your goals. For each goal, decide how long you would like to spend on it, and when you would like to achieve them it. This article includes some great questions to ask yourself when going through each goal. It is important to go through these questions so that you can determine which goals mean the most to you. Remember, you are the only one who knows your goals better than yourself.
We created a Goal Prioritization Worksheet. Click here! Keep in mind, goals are not the actions that you take, but rather the metrics that you can hit. These metrics show you if you are moving in the right direction. Now, in order to get closer and closer to your goal, you must decide what projects to fulfill to help you get there. So, how do you prioritize projects? Prioritizing Projects – Methodology Think of a project as a big initiative. Choosing the projects to work on is key to help bring your closer and closer to meeting your goals. Unfortunately, much of the time we do not have time to accomplish every project we would like because you can’t do everything — however, you can definitely choose the best projects to ensure you attain your goal. Luckily, there are some techniques that help you prioritize and rank those projective projects if you do not know where to start.Project Prioritization Matrix A project prioritization matrix helps us decide which projects are the most crucial to bring you closer to your end goal. This will help you classify potential projects by looking at factors such as advantages of completing the potential project and importance. Using this method, you will rank each aspect of the projects you would like to complete and then compare the rankings to determine which projects are the best use of your time. Once you decide, you will work on those important projects and toss the other ones aside for the time being. During this process, It is important to note your goals so you can create the best plan of action. To determine which projects are of greatest importance, start by creating a list of all of the projects that you would carry out. Then:
Project Prioritization Matrix TemplateClick here for a project prioritization matrix template before you get started. Big Bet, Home Run, Small Win When going through potential projects, he asks himself two questions:
From there, he put the projects into the Priority Matrix. So what does each quadrant mean?Big Bet – These projects must be use the skills and knowledge of the top dog. Thus, leader in charged must dedicate time to oversee the project, at least at the beginning. As the leader “doubles down” and gets personally involved, the project is more likely to end up accomplished. The project may be delegated once the leader ensures that the project will succeed, thus becoming a home run. Prioritizing TasksProjects consists of many different tasks, or action items which help you carry out the project. In simpler terms, tasks are items that can be checked off of a checklist. Thus, task prioritization is necessary to carry out your projects so that you can achieve your goals. If you are having trouble grasping onto the differences between goals, projects, and tasks, here is an example to help you visualize them. Allison is the Marketing Director of a new technology company that just opened up.
Prioritization MethodsEisenhower MethodDeveloped by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Eisenhower Method of Prioritization will help you make the best use out of your time by optimizing how you use it.
Remember, critical means that the task is of high importance and urgent means that is time sensitive. Quadrant One: Critical and Urgent TasksThese tasks need to be done right now, or as soon as possible. Quadrant Two: Critical, but Not Urgent TasksThese need to get done eventually, but not until you tackle those tasks in quadrant one. Quadrant Three: Not Critical, But Urgent TasksThese need to be done right now, but they do not have to be done by you. Quadrant Four: Neither Critical, Nor Urgent TasksThese tasks will not put a roof over your head if you do not complete tasks in quadrants 1, 2, and 3. Examples: Checking your social media, watching TV Using the Eisenhower Method will help you decide what you need to accomplish right now to determine what you should spend your time on. ABC PrioritizationABC prioritization uses the first three letters of the alphabet in order to set your priorities straight and increase your organization all around. First, you need to write a list of all of your priorities for a specific time period, for example for today or this week. Then, you will put either an A, B, or a C and a number next to each priority on your list. What does an A mean?These are tasks that would go in the Critical and Urgent section of the Eisenhower Matrix. These are tasks that must get done, and if they do not, there will be consequences, like not finishing the article that your boss needs by tomorrow. Next, you would add a number to it, 1 being the most important task, and 10 being the still important, but least important task in the A category. The number 1 would be setting out the most severe fire. What does a B mean?These are similar to Eisenhower’s Critical, but Not Urgent box. These tasks are important, but they do not require your utmost attention right now as there are not severe consequences for not getting it done at the moment. What does a C mean?These are the same as the Not Critical, and Not Urgent box of the Eisenhower Matrix. If I do not do this task, there will not be any repercussions; for example, there are not going to be consequences if I watch an entire season of a TV show or not. MoSCoW MethodMoSCoW is an acronym often used in many managing fields like project management and software development, although it could also be used for daily priorities. For this reason, I describe the Moscow method in the context of a project. In case you were wondering, the O’s are just there for auditory effect because how could anyone remember MSCW? Must have this: These are extremely high priority and contribute to the overall success of a project. These parts of the project must be satisfied or else the project will be a failure.Should have this if possible: If time is still available have you finish the M’s, then you would go onto these. These are still of high priority, but they can be postponed until later; these won’t affect the overall success of the project if they are not completed right now. Could have this if it does not affect anything else: If we do not complete these, the project will still be successful. These are desirable and nice to have if we can get to them, but it is okay if we do not. This is equivalent to turning in a report with all of the requirements, but if we have time, adding designs to it to make it look more professional. Would like to in future but do not have time right now: These are the least important. These will not be a part of this project, but it I still important and might be included in some way in the future. Risk Prioritization MatrixJust like the name implies, you pinpoint possible risks and prioritize them according to which ones have the potential to cause the most damage. This allows you to determine which risks can create the worst consequences in order to correct those risks. First off, make a list of your risks and include the worst possible scenarios that can occur if these risk events were to occur. Would it effect the end result in a positive or a negative way? If negative, how negative would it be, and what could the consequences be? If you are having trouble, think of similar projects you have done in the past and the risks that were associated with them. After you have your list put together, you need to determine which ones could have the most detrimental consequences. Those with the most will be given a 5, and those with the least possibility for chaos will be given a 1. At this point, you want to think of ways to prevent those high consequence risk events from occurring. These are your number one priorities. On the other hand, if it is a low risk event, you want to watch it cautiously, but you will not put as much time into preventing it because it has the potential to cause less damage. Here is a picture from MITRE with a great explanation of the numerical risk categories. Pareto PrincipleAlso known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle, which states “80% of the results come from 20% of the action.” As a result, when deciding where to focus your efforts, you want to choose the 20% of tasks that would give you the highest return on investment of your time. You can also use the Effort vs. Impact chart below to decide what those 20% of tasks are. Effort vs. ImpactAnother quadrant based prioritization method – this one helps us decide where not only our time, but our effort should be concentrated. High Impact, Low EffortThese priorities require little effort, but bring back a big return. If possible, this is where you want to spend a majority of your time. High Impact, High EffortThese priorities require you to put a lot of work in, and as a result, you will have a big return. These tend to be time consuming, and are sometimes worth the time investment. Low Impact, Low EffortYou didn’t put that much into the task, and subsequently, you do not get much out of it. Like high impact, high effort, these tasks may not always be worth it, although they may add up if you do them enough. Focus on these third. Low Impact, High Effort You put blood, sweat, and tears into it, and your hard work did not pay off at all. You want to avoid these tasks as they are a waste of your time.Download this template here Action Priority MatrixThe Action Priority Matrix is just another name for Effort vs. Impact method.
Source: Mindtools Examples of PrioritizationNow that we have covered some different prioritization methods, let’s continue with the example of Allison, the Marketing Director of the new company. Like we said, Allison is trying to determine her marketing plan to boost sales and increase the company’s customer base. To determine which marketing strategies to use, she might use the Effort Vs. Impact method to determine which priorities she should start with. Perhaps she is between two projects: a Content Marketing and a Direct Mail Campaign. From there, she would decide which one will lead to the highest return of investment by analyzing the resources that would be put into it (time, effort, money) and what she would get out of it (increased sales, more customers). Let’s say she goes with the direct mail campaign. She might decide to organize her tasks based on the Eisenhower Method of Prioritization. Remember, her tasks are:
Setting up the meetings with advertising agencies as well as deciding which one to go with might be categorized under Critical and Urgent since she wants to get the word out about her company as soon as possible. Designing the advertisement at the time Critical, but Not Urgent as she has not decided which agency to go with yet. Now, let’s say that she finally decides on a company to work with, but the company’s deadline to be featured in this month’s advertising packet is in one week. That means she has to work quickly and decide what she wants to focus her efforts on. To figure this out, perhaps she will use the MoSCoW Method to decide what she must have, should have, could have, and won’t have. She decides that she must have graphics with explanations and costs to show what the technology company offers. She should decide on some deals and coupons to include in the advertisement to bring more people into the store; however, her priority is getting all of the graphics and explanations. If she finishes those, then she can consider what promotions to use. She wants to design a new background for the ad then making it pure green, but if she does not have time too, it will be okay. She would like to look at other ads from competitors, but since she is in a time crunch, she figures that it is okay to wait until the next month when they advertise again. Using these prioritization methods helps her decide what needs to be at the center of attention to have the best possible marketing campaign. Prioritization Tools1. Priority Matrix (US)Priority Matrix is a prioritization tool that helps you prioritize, focus, and work smarter. It is great for when you have many projects filled with even many more tasks to help you to keep track of what’s next. Priority Matrix’s 4-quadrants framework provides best in class tracking of priorities across each project, and across all responsibilities whether you are working individually, with a small group, or with a large team. Priority Matrix includes features to set task due dates and sync with your calendar, upload and share files, communicate through the in-app chat, and many more. Priority Matrix already has the Eisenhower Template and much more loaded into the system; however, if you are not a fan of what they have, you can customize your own templates. Books on Prioritization1. Getting Things DoneThe Getting Things Done (GTD) Method is a strategy that will teach you how to manage your time by focusing on aspects of time management, task management, and productivity. The author David Allen teaches you how to use time effectively so that you can get things that you have to get done, done, so you can focus on things that you enjoy doing. He focuses on how stress affects productivity, and if we are not able to loosen up, then we will not accomplish everything that we have the potential to accomplish.
From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.” 2. How to Get Control of Your Time and Life by Alan LekinWhat do Gloria Steinem and I.B.M. have in common?
Reading this book can be the wisest investment of your time that you have ever made! Source
Priority Matrix uses 4-quadrants to help you focus on top priorities and projects. When you use Priority Matrix, you become more accountable to yourself, and ensure that you are spending time where it matters most. Learn more about Priority Matrix. |