What's the Priority?!?!

It seems everything is a "high" priority. Ugh! But if everything is a high priority, then we have no priorities. By definition, priority means being regarded or treated as more important. Priorities are really about how you are going to act or what action you are going to see. Properly prioritization ensures leadership and resources are working together on the right projects with the right level of effort.

When defining priorities, it is important to have operational definitions the team and organization clearly understand in order to properly prioritize projects. Below is a base starting point we utilize:

• 1-Urgent: Needs immediate attention with dedicated resources.

• 2-High: Aligned to organizational goals with focused resources.

• 3-Medium: Important projects with resources working at a regular pace.

• 4-Low: Want to get done. Resources work as time permits.

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80/20 Next Level Details

In our PMO's, we develop operational definitions for each priority as well as what actions we expect to see based on the priority. As an example, we would prioritize and take different actions for the following four "projects": A building on fire; Fire prevention efforts; Fire equipment maintenance; and Firehouse cleaning. Let's review the priority framework and then prioritize these examples.

1-Urgent	Needs immediate attention with dedicated resources.
Indictors	Critical to the organization & requires immediate attention. Resources reallocated from other projects and mostly dedicated to this project's efforts. Other projects are de-prioritized or paused until the project is completed. Leadership engaged and needs hourly/daily updates.

2-High	Aligned to organizational goals with focused resources.
Indicators	Project is aligned to achieving organizational goals/strategy. Resources plan and allocate time daily to the project. Leadership engaged and needs weekly/monthly updates.

3-Medium	Important projects with resources working at a regular pace.
Indicators	Project supports regular business operations and has an expected/needed timeline. Resources allocate time weekly and work at regular pace. Leadership engaged periodically at key project milestones and project challenges.

4-Low	Want to get done. Resources work as time permits.
Indicators	Project indirectly impacts business operations and timeline has greater flexibility. Resources work on tasks as they have available time. Leadership informed at project completion and project challenges.

From our earlier examples above, if we were a Fire Chief, this is how we would prioritize the projects. And based on that, our team would know leadership's engagement expectations and how to allocate their time:

• Building on Fire = Urgent

• Fire Prevention Efforts = High

• Fire equipment maintenance = Medium

• Firehouse cleaning = Low

A couple of final notes:

• The Priority names start with numbers so they easily sort by highest priority first on various reports.

• Few projects will actually ever actually be considered "Urgent" and remain active for just a short period of time (hopefully!).

• Low prioritized projects are expected to be worked and completed. It is not a holding spot for future projects (see post about Project Stages).

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80/20 Takeaway

It is important to clearly define project priorities and gain organizational alignment on how to appropriately prioritize projects. Proper prioritization aligns the organization on how respond and work projects.

How do you define your priorities? What's your Framework?