How can I best prioritize tasks?

James H
James H EN Basic Posts: 7 Beginner
edited September 2022 in Ask the Community

Hello, I have a question about task prioritization. I've set up the agenda for my colleagues but most people's dashboards are just simply way too full with assigned tasks to really do anything but feel paralyzed. Does anyone have a system for organizing assigned tasks they can share?

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  • James H
    James H EN Basic Posts: 7 Beginner

    Wow, thank you so much Andres!!! - that sounds like a much better suggestion - We have our agendas organized by "next actions", "upcoming", "waiting" (for on hold tasks) and "watching." The problem is that the "next actions" column ends up being completely full of everything :) You've put them into business categories, which I think might make prioritzation easier. I'm going to try this out!

    1000x thanks

  • Andrew Lapidus
    Andrew Lapidus Admin, MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 1,007 Community Admin

    @James H -I've also had incidents where the "next action" part of my workflow is overwhelming.

    I absolutely love @Andres D'Andrea 's idea of a separate "emergency" tab in agenda (the name "DEFCON 2" is amazing 😂) to prevent exactly this.

  • Admin BSF.company
    Admin BSF.company International Partner, MT Tester, EN Business Posts: 487 Community Leader

    Hey @James H , @Andrew Lapidus , thanks for your comments.

    I'm glad to help and sure there are many ways to be productive. Eager to learn from other's experiences as well

    Best regards.

    Andrés D'Andrea.

    Follow me on LinkedIn and:

    BSF.company - Digital Solutions For Your Business.

    Technopreneuring.Com - Optimize Resources. Maximize Results.

    GestionOperativa.Com - Optimiza Recursos. Maximiza Resultados.

  • Andrew Lapidus
    Andrew Lapidus Admin, MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 1,007 Community Admin

    I had to open this back up and give an update on my own personal organization - I have long used the MeisterTask agenda to organize tasks by priority - I've used the Eisenhower method, GTD, MoSCoW, and others, but they all had the issue you named @James H - my "next actions" section (or "today" or "must have") would always get completely huge.

    Along with that, it also prevented me from organizing at "two levels", as @Andres D'Andrea said - every task was organized by priority, which left me with no overview of my different areas of responsibility and commitment.

    Now the good news - A couple weeks ago I reorganized my agenda with a section for each separate area of my professional responsibilities, as per @Andres D'Andrea 's suggestion, and began prioritzing those on a vertical axis. I also followed the advice of using a red "Urgent" tab which I try to keep empty.

    For me, the ultimate test of a productivity hack is whether it relieves stress and gives me a bit more peace of mind when organizing my day. Happy to report this has absolutely been the case - I can quickly open my agenda and get a feel for which areas need my attention.

    Just goes to show that you can always learn something about organization and prioritization so much @Andres D'Andrea for the expert advice and @James H for opening the conversation!

  • Admin BSF.company
    Admin BSF.company International Partner, MT Tester, EN Business Posts: 487 Community Leader

    Hey @Andrew Lapidus I'm glad you find this helpful.

    Thanks, @James H indeed for opening the talk.

    Have a productive day, everyone 😉 👍

    Andrés D'Andrea

    Follow me on LinkedIn and:

    BSF.company - Digital Solutions For Your Business.

    Technopreneuring.Com - Optimize Resources. Maximize Results.

    GestionOperativa.Com - Optimiza Recursos. Maximiza Resultados.