Prioritizing Project Tasks

What leaders choose not to do matters more than what they launch. If I had to name one leadership skill that separates scaling businesses from stalled ones, it would be this: Prioritisation. Not creativity. Not motivation. Not even vision. Prioritisation. Because growth pressure creates options. More markets. More campaigns. More hires. More partnerships. More features. And when everything feels important, nothing truly is. Marketing leadership isn’t about launching initiatives. It’s about protecting focus. When priorities compete, weaker leadership tries to accommodate all of them. Stronger leadership chooses. And choosing always creates discomfort. Someone’s idea gets paused. Someone’s request gets delayed. Something exciting gets declined. But that discomfort protects coherence. Prioritisation shapes: • Budget allocation • Team capacity • Messaging clarity • Sales focus • Operational rhythm Without it, organisations stretch thin. Teams feel busy but unclear. Projects overlap. Performance becomes inconsistent. The hidden damage of weak prioritisation is not underperformance. It’s cognitive overload. When teams juggle too many “top priorities,” decision quality declines. Everything becomes reactive. Urgency replaces direction. Marketing leadership, especially in SMEs, is about saying: “This matters now.” “That can wait.” “This aligns.” “That distracts.” It requires emotional steadiness. Because urgency feels persuasive. But urgency is rarely strategic. Strong leaders ask: Does this move us closer to our defined direction? Or does it simply relieve short-term pressure? Over time, disciplined prioritisation compounds. Teams trust direction. Energy stays focused. Execution quality improves. And something subtle happens: The business feels calmer. Not slower. Calmer. Because fewer priorities mean clearer action. Leadership is visible in moments of tension. When five opportunities appear at once. When stakeholders push competing agendas. When growth pressure rises. In those moments, prioritisation defines maturity. What leaders choose not to do often determines whether growth becomes sustainable or chaotic. And in marketing, that discipline is everything.

It's the same every year. During the annual budget planning, every bank I know faces an overwhelming number of IT project requests. I've often heard senior managers proudly proclaim, "As part of this year's budget planning, we've reduced IT project requests by 50%." This is frequently touted as a success, which always surprises me. Additionally, false hopes are often raised about what IT can deliver during the planning phase, when in reality, fulfilling all requests is neither feasible nor desirable. The annual struggle of IT project planning in the banking sector highlights a fundamental challenge: the disconnect between ambition and reality. This ritual is flawed for several reasons. Firstly, it assumes that all IT projects are created equal. In reality, some projects yield significant benefits for the bank and its customers, while others may offer only marginal improvements or even prove detrimental. Secondly, it overlooks the crucial role of IT in driving innovation and competitive advantage. Banks that fail to invest strategically in IT risk falling behind their rivals, losing market share, and ultimately jeopardizing their long-term viability. The key to overcoming this challenge lies in proper prioritization. This involves not just reducing the number of IT projects, but selecting the right ones. Desirable projects are those that create tangible and measurable benefits for the bank and its customers, such as faster payment processing, more reliable and accessible account services, or enhanced security features. By focusing on such projects, banks can ensure that their IT investments deliver maximum value and contribute to their overall strategic goals. Moreover, proper prioritization requires a clear understanding of the bank's overall business objectives and the role of IT in achieving them. This means aligning IT projects with the bank's strategic priorities, ensuring that they support the bank's core business functions, and delivering a clear return on investment. It also involves involving key stakeholders in the prioritization process, including business leaders, IT experts, and customer representatives, to ensure that all perspectives are considered and that the chosen projects have broad support. #banking #IT #bankingIT #planning #annualplanning #annualITplanning #SundayThoughts

Want to tackle the most impactful data projects? Use the RICE scoring model to sort them by priority! RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. It’s a useful framework to prioritize tasks and projects effectively. 1. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵: Estimate how many people your project will affect. For example, how many teams will make decisions based on my results?     2. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: Estimate the potential benefit. Will this project bring significant improvements or minor enhancements? Rate it on a scale e.g., 1 to 5.     3. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Assess how confident you are in your estimates. High confidence boosts the project’s score, while low confidence lowers it. Be honest about your uncertainties regarding data quality and model complexity (0.0 to 1.0).     4. 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁: Calculate the time and resources required to complete the project. Measure it in person-hours or team-days. Less effort means a higher score. C͟a͟l͟c͟u͟l͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟ 𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort E͟x͟a͟m͟p͟l͟e͟ You will reach 50 sales managers with your model and estimate an impact of 4 out 5 on their work. You're fairly certain about achieving your goal with a rate of 0.8. It will take you about 80 hours of work to build the model. 𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 = (50 × 4 × 0.8) / 80 𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 =  2 You can compare this score of 2 versus the other project scores and select the one with the highest value. Use the RICE model to sort and prioritize your data projects. It ensures you’re focusing on high-impact tasks that require reasonable effort and have solid confidence behind them. Regularly revisit and adjust your scores as new data or insights become available. This keeps your priorities aligned with changing business goals. By applying the RICE scoring model, you’ll increase the efficiency of your project management, ensuring you’re working on what truly matters. How do you currently prioritize your data projects? ---------------- ♻️ Share if you find this post useful ➕ Follow for more daily insights on how to grow your career in the data field #dataanalytics #datascience #rice #projectmanagement #prioritization

🪨 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 - 𝗣𝗲𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 - 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱! Is this the best way to prioritise Projects in Procurement (and beyond)? If you want to ensure you work on the right topics within available team capacity, you need to make choices. Not everything can be a strategic initiative or is a „Must-do“ project. Prioritisation means balancing goals to ensure impact…not just being busy. In a past project portfolio review we used the analogy of Rocks-Pebbles-Sand: 🪨 𝙍𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙨 represent the big, important projects. For Source to Pay these could include process harmonisation, system rollouts, data basics and governance. If these don’t get done, nothing really changes. 🔵 𝙋𝙚𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 are helpful improvements. Small automations, template updates, perhaps dashboards. They are supporting the rocks. 🟡 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙙 are the small tasks & noise Ad-hoc requests, cosmetic updates, minor changes. They tend to fill all the space if you let them. The thing is that: ➡️ If you fill your jar (capacity) with Sand first, there’s no room for the Rocks. ➡️ If you start with Rocks, everything else can fit around them. A useful rule for a project prioritisation session could be: 👉 Know your capacity 👉 Consolidate projects 👉 Do Rocks first. 👉 Pebbles go second. 👉 Add Sand only if there’s space. The goal is not to be just busy but to work on topics which deliver real ROI or sustain progress. How does this resonate with you? Why is prioritisation such a challenge?

High-performing leaders focus intensely on results and prioritize quick wins to show immediate impact. Here are 3 examples of executing effective PMO quick wins that I have implemented: 1. Executive-Friendly Dashboard - Challenge: Engaging executives with project data - Solution: Created a dashboard with less text, big fonts, plain language, and strategic use of color - Outcome: Transformed executives' perspectives from unclear to decisive within two weeks 2. Jargon-Free Project Management Templates - Challenge: Making templates accessible to key stakeholders - Solution: Used simple language, defined terms, and provided instructions with examples - Outcome: Stakeholders found templates helpful and easy to understand 3. Rescue Mission Project - Challenge: Numerous ongoing projects with no completions - Solution: Took the initiative to rescue and deliver a struggling project - Outcome: Demonstrated capability to complete projects and solidified leadership's trust Quick wins are your opportunity to shine as a PMO leader. What quick wins have you executed or seen in your organization? ~~ ♻ Share if this speaks to you Want more PMO insights? Subscribe to The PMO Playbook (link below 👇).

When Teams Grow, Design Their Experience: An LXD Perspective. Rapid growth is often celebrated as a marker of success. Teams expand, business objectives increase, and new responsibilities are introduced. Yet growth often comes faster than the systems and processes that support it , leaving teams misaligned, overwhelmed, and disengaged. A sales team I worked with had grown from 10 to 25 members over six months. While expansion brought exciting opportunities , it also introduced a host of challenges: 📝 Increased administrative work and reporting requirements 📅 More frequent meetings for alignment across an expanded team 🎯 Higher performance expectations and KPIs ❓ Ambiguity in roles and responsibilities as new members joined Despite their enthusiasm and capability, the team began reporting stress, confusion, and a sense of constant pressure. From a Learning Experience Design perspective, processes that worked for a smaller team often do not scale without adjustment. The team’s capacity their available time, attention, and cognitive bandwidth did not expand in line with expectations. Role ambiguity and overlapping responsibilities created duplication of effort and accountability gaps. Here came an opportunity to redesign the team’s capacity and learning ecosystem rather than simply redistribute tasks. Key interventions included: 🔍 Conduct a Capacity Audit: Every task, meeting, and reporting requirement was analyzed to identify bottlenecks, duplication, and low-value activities. 📌 Prioritize Strategic Work: Non-essential tasks were delegated or removed. Core responsibilities aligned with business impact were clearly highlighted. ⚙️ Redesign Processes: Reporting templates were streamlined, recurring meetings reduced, and approvals standardized to reduce friction. 💡 Embed Reflection and Learning: Weekly “team retrospectives” were introduced, where team members shared wins, challenges, and lessons learned, enabling process improvement and knowledge transfer. 🧩 Clarify Roles and Responsibilities: Each team member’s tasks and ownership were mapped, eliminating overlap and increasing accountability. The results were striking. Performance stabilized as team members could focus on fewer, high-impact activities. Engagement increased 💪 because individuals felt their work mattered, and they had the space to contribute strategically rather than simply execute. Teams are more than output machines they are human systems. Rapid expansion can overwhelm these systems if we fail to consider capacity, clarity, and reflection. Designing growth with empathy and learning in mind ensures that teams remain motivated, skilled, and aligned. Ultimately, success comes not from doing more, but from doing better, together 🤝. #microlearning #learningeveryday #learningwithhiral #LearningExperienceDesign #EmployeeEngagement #Leadership #TeamDevelopment #ContinuousLearning #TeamCollaboration #LeadershipDevelopment

Yesterday I posted about ways to help you work through your task list, but how do you know which order to do your tasks in? The first thing I do is create a to-do list. Start by listing all the tasks you need to complete. Having a clear view of your tasks is the first step in choosing what order to do them in. After creating my list, I then use a great tool called the Eisenhower Matrix that helps me prioritise tasks by how urgent and important they are. If you search online you can see how to draw the matrix, it's a simple diagram that allows you to put tasks into 4 categories: ⚠ Urgent and Important: These are top priority tasks that require immediate attention, like deadlines or emergencies. 💡 Important but Not Urgent: These tasks are significant but don't require immediate action. They are often related to long-term goals, planning, and personal growth. 😵 Urgent but Not Important: These tasks demand immediate attention but may not contribute significantly to your long-term goals. They can include interruptions or distractions. These are some of the worst types of tasks for getting in your way of achieving your goals. 😴 Neither Urgent nor Important: These are tasks that can be put on the back burner or delegated because they have minimal impact on your goals. Each of the quadrants on the diagram is associated with an action: ✔ Urgent and important tasks are labelled as "Do First". Get them put into your diary to do immediately. ✔ Important but not urgent tasks should be labelled as "Schedule" (and don't forget to schedule them!). ✖ Urgent but not important tasks should be labelled as "Delegate", or in some cases you may just want to push back and say "no". If it's not important, does it actually need to be done? ❌ Neither urgent nor important tasks should be tagged as "Don't Do" and take them off your list! See, we're getting rid of tasks already and we haven't even started doing them, whoop whoop! There are a few other things I consider when looking at my tasks: ❓ Consider Deadlines. If you have looming deadlines, they should often take precedence. But don't let a task's urgency overshadow its importance. Sometimes, long-term projects need attention even if there's no immediate deadline. ❓ Evaluate Impact and Consequences. Think about the potential impact each task has on your goals or the business. Consider the consequences of not completing a task and the benefits of completing it. ❓ Time and Energy Management. Take your own energy levels and the time of day into account. If you're most productive in the morning, tackle your most critical tasks then. Save routine or less demanding tasks for when your energy dips. My slump is around 3-4pm so I tend to keep that time for admin or fun tasks that are less pressured. Experiment with different methods and find what works best for you. It's all about aligning your efforts with your goals and making the most of your time and resources. #TaskManagement #Prioritising

They say everything’s urgent. Until urgency costs you $100K. That’s when priorities finally matter. That’s what my customer kept saying. Every email marked “ASAP.” Every request needed “immediate attention.” My team was drowning in priorities. Deadlines slipped. Morale tanked. Focus vanished. Sound familiar? Here’s how we turned chaos into clarity and results: First, we used the Eisenhower Matrix: → True urgency: System outages → Important but planned: Feature releases → Delegate: Minor updates → Eliminate: Nice-to-haves The key? We did this with the customer. They helped categorize each request. Their buy-in made all the difference. Without it, this would’ve been just another failed process. The result? ✔️ Less team overwhelm ✔️ Clearer project milestones ✔️ A happy customer, they got what truly mattered Once we saw it work, I built a playbook every smart leader can use when everything feels urgent: 1. Eisenhower Matrix   → Urgent vs important. Know where to focus.   → Spend less time on fires, more on impact. 2. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)   → The vital few drive most results.   → Focus on the 20% that matters. 3. Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule   → Choose 5 goals, ignore the other 20.   → Focus beats distraction. 4. RICE Method   → Score by reach, impact, confidence, effort.   → Rank smart for maximum return. 5. MoSCoW Method   → Must, Should, Could, Won’t.   → Define essentials, defer the rest. 6. ABCDE Method   → Label tasks A–E, focus on A’s.   → Do must-do’s first, delete E’s. Then, we put structure behind the strategy: 7. Time Blocking — 2 hours of deep client work daily.   → No meetings, no interruptions.   → Pure focus on what matters most. 8. Eat That Frog — tackle the hardest task first.   → Before email, before admin.   → Start strong, stay strong. 9. Batching — group similar tasks for efficiency.   → One focus, many wins. The payoff? ✔️ 3x more client face time ✔️ Smoother operations ✔️ Real work-life balance finally Want simple steps to next level your career with clarity, not chaos? Join my Career Freedom Masterclass 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eM5kKXRc ♻️ Repost to help another leader find focus 👋 Follow Stephanie Hills, Ph.D. for leadership insights that bridge life and work

Stop doing everything. After 25 years at Microsoft, I've watched brilliant people fail because they couldn't say no. They treated every task like it mattered. (It doesn't.) 70% of your work belongs in the trash. At Microsoft, the difference between good leaders and great ones came down to one skill—knowing what to ignore. We scored everything on just two dimensions: Impact (will this actually move the needle?) Ability to Execute (can we nail this quickly?) Plot these on a matrix and you see four quadrants emerge. 1. Quick Wins (high impact, easy execution): Start here. Always. 2. Major Projects (high impact, hard execution): Plan these carefully. 3. Fill-Ins (low impact, easy execution): Batch these for dead time. 4. The Void (low impact, hard execution): Delete. Forever. Avoid the Void. That bottom left quadrant is career poison. Yet most people live there grinding on complex tasks that don't matter because they feel "productive." Idea 4 in my framework scores 8 for impact, 9 for execution. Idea 2 scores 9 for impact, 2 for execution. Which would you tackle first? Most people pick Idea 2. It feels more important. More heroic. They're wrong. Quick wins create momentum. Momentum creates results. Results create opportunity for the big swings. Try this tomorrow: 1. List your top 10 tasks. 2. Score them 1-10 on impact and execution. 3. Delete anything scoring low on both. 4. Start with your highest-scoring "easy" item. 5. Watch what happens to your output. The best leaders don't do more. They do less—better. What's in your bottom left quadrant that needs to die? If you found this useful, please share it with someone drowning in busy work. Follow me for frameworks that actually work.

Get more done in less time - Master the Eisenhower Matrix: Too often we mistake being busy with being productive. The reality? We spend far too much time on the wrong things. Use this time management tool to prioritize your tasks properly, And dramatically increase your productivity. Its simplicity drives its effectiveness - Categorize all of your tasks into 1 of 4 quadrants based on their urgency and importance, And then take action accordingly. This sheet breaks down the details, So you can put it to work: 1) Do Now (Urgent and important) Description: ↳Tasks that require immediate attention and are crucial for your goals ↳Often tied to deadlines, crises, or high-pressure situations Examples: ↳Completing a critical project that's due by end of day ↳Fixing a website crash that's preventing customers from making purchases ↳Preparing for a last-minute client presentation scheduled for tomorrow How to Get Them Done: ↳Prioritize them over everything else ↳Avoid multitasking - focus only on them ↳Use a timer or set specific time blocks to ensure completion 2) Plan for Later (Not urgent but important) Description: ↳Tasks that are important for long-term success but don't need immediate attention ↳Often involve personal growth, strategy, and big-picture goals Examples: ↳Researching and implementing automation tools to improve workflow ↳Meeting with a mentor to discuss career growth ↳Creating a content calendar for next quarter How to Get Them Done: ↳Schedule these tasks into your calendar and stick to working on them ↳Break them down into smaller, actionable steps so they feel less overwhelming 3) Delegate Now (Urgent but not important) Description: ↳Tasks that may feel urgent but aren't critical to achieving your goals ↳Often stem from others' priorities and don't require your unique skills Examples: ↳Replying to most customer service inquiries ↳Reviewing routine reports that don't require your direct input ↳Scheduling travel arrangements for an upcoming conference How to Get Them Done: ↳Delegate these tasks to someone else immediately ↳Provide clear instructions and all necessary resources ↳Give autonomy and only follow-up when asked or necessary 4) Eliminate Now (Not urgent and not important) Description: ↳Tasks that offer little value and don't contribute to long-term goals ↳They are distractions or time-wasters that can be removed Examples: ↳Checking social media notifications often with no clear purpose ↳Attending meetings that don't require your presence or input ↳Over-customizing a PowerPoint for a basic internal presentation How to (NOT!) Get Them Done: ↳Recognize where you're wasting time on trivial things ↳Eliminate these tasks from your routine ↳Set boundaries to avoid falling into time-wasting habits Use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize like a pro, And turbocharge your productivity. Have you tried it before? --- ♻️ Repost to help your network become more efficient. And follow me George Stern for more.