Priority Lists are Useful!
As someone who struggles to focus at times, I’ve had to go out of my way to find methods to stay on track over the course of my academic and professional career. Something that I have noticed with the shift to remote working is that it’s incredibly easy to get unfocused performing regular job duties, especially when there are multiple things going on at once. While there are sometimes where there is a single project that takes precedence over everything else, most of the time I am dealing with short sprints of work on multiple projects based on what work and resources have been made available. In order to keep myself and my direct reports productive across these multiple projects, I created a system to keep everyone moving that I call Priority Lists, and I’d like to share it with you today.
What is a Priority List?
Simply put, a priority list is a checklist that lists out items in terms of their importance and immediate need of attention. While the concept of having priority is nothing new, it’s important to define why something is prioritized. In my experience, certain things should be prioritized because:
There is a looming deadline, and the work needs to be done now
The work requires someone else to review prior to finalization, and getting it to them sooner makes life easy
Completion of a certain task is required before progressing on other tasks (such as making selections for an audit)
Other people are waiting on this task to be completed and without attention it will become a bottleneck
It is the last component of a project and finishing it means no one has to worry about it anymore
Part of being a modern professional is being able to identify the reasons why tasks should be prioritized and determining what should be prioritized based on the current situation. For example, a priority list may look something like this:
Get selections out to an upcoming client #1 (Once they provide the appropriate information)
Go over project with staff and set them up to work on it (Once they finish up another project)
Remind client #2 of requests from last week
Complete work in XX area for client #3,
Review work in YY area for client #4,
Set up work in ZZ area for client #3 for a staff to complete
Why Should I Have a Priority List?
In my experience, there are three main benefits to having a priority list structured like the example above:
It provides a clear list of what needs to get done, and it adds the context of why something may not be ready yet. For those tasks that are priority but require something before they get started, it’s important to keep them top of mind and have the structure to pivot over to them when they are ready.
It allows you to move on to the next thing immediately when you are ready to do so. There are times where a few tasks on the list may be equal in priority, and the most important thing to do is to keep things moving. With a list ready, you can move on to another task if you get stuck on one item which you can come back to later on.
If you are in a position where you delegate work to others, a priority list is a great way to keep someone working efficiently, since they can move on to the next priority while they wait for help on something (instead of just waiting around doing nothing)
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I challenge you to implement a priority list into your workflow and see if it is a tool that can help you. The best way to do this is to take some extra time at the beginning of your day or week to list out everything that needs to get done and what items may require additional consideration such as getting time or information from other people. Good luck!