Prioritization
Jacob Duval
•
May 29, 2025
Intro
When there are more ideas than time, you need to make choices. That's what prioritization is all about. It's how we decide what to work on first and what can wait.
Many teams struggle with this. They try to do everything at once. This leads to slow progress, burnout, and products that don't really solve problems well.
Good prioritization helps teams focus on what truly matters. When we try to do everything, we end up doing nothing well. By making clear choices about what to work on first, we can:
Deliver value faster. Working on one thing at a time means we finish it sooner. This gets valuable features into users' hands quickly.
Reduce team stress. When everyone knows what matters most, there's less confusion and fewer competing demands.
Make better products. Focusing our energy on fewer things means we can give each one the attention it deserves.
Common Prioritization Mistakes
Saying yes to everything. When teams can't say no, they spread themselves too thin. This slows everything down and burns people out.
Focusing only on what's urgent. Always fighting fires means you never build for the future. The important but not urgent work keeps getting pushed back.
Letting the loudest voice win. Sometimes the person who complains the most gets their way. This isn't strategy - it's just giving in to pressure.
Changing priorities too often. When the focus shifts every week, teams get whiplash. Nothing gets finished because everyone keeps switching tasks.
Simple Approaches That Work
You don't need fancy frameworks to prioritize well. Here are some straightforward approaches:
Start with your goals. What are you trying to achieve? Every decision should connect back to these goals. If something doesn't help reach them, it's probably not a priority.
Consider impact versus effort. Focus on things that give big results for reasonable work. Be careful with high-effort, low-impact tasks - they drain resources without much return.
Look at dependencies. Some work needs to happen in a certain order. Make sure you're not blocking important projects by prioritizing the wrong things first.
Set time limits. Decide how long you'll focus on each priority before reviewing. This prevents priorities from becoming stale and helps you adjust as you learn.
Making Decisions As A Team
Prioritization works best when it's not just one person making all the calls. Good team prioritization means:
Getting different perspectives. Product, design, engineering, and customer support all see different parts of the problem. When they share what they know, you make better choices.
Being transparent about the process. Everyone should understand how decisions get made. This builds trust, even when people don't agree with every choice.
Committing together. Once priorities are set, the whole team needs to get behind them. This shared commitment helps resist the urge to change direction with every new request.
Reviewing regularly. Set aside time to check if your priorities still make sense. Things change, and your priorities should adapt too.
When To Say No
The hardest part of prioritization is often saying no. But it's also the most important.
Be honest about capacity. Your team can only do so much. Pretending you can fit in more work doesn't help anyone.
Explain your reasoning. When you say no to something, share why. This helps people understand it's not personal - it's about making the best use of limited time.
Offer alternatives. Sometimes you can suggest a smaller version that would fit, or point to a future time when it might make more sense.
Stay consistent. If you say no to one thing but yes to something similar, people will notice. Make sure your decisions follow the same logic.
Conclusion
Good prioritization isn't about complex formulas or fancy tools. It's about making clear choices based on what matters most to your team and customers.
When you prioritize well, you finish important work faster. Your team feels more focused and less stressed. And your product solves real problems instead of trying to be everything to everyone.
Remember that prioritization is ongoing. As you learn and grow, your priorities will shift. That's not a failure - it's a sign that you're paying attention and adapting.
The most successful teams aren't the ones who do everything. They're the ones who do the right things, in the right order, for the right reasons.
