HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK

WHEN EVERYTHING IS #1

https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/how-to-prioritize-work-when-everythings-1/
• All projects need clear priorities
• No matter how well-planned, there will always be revisions / add ons / surprises, and
reprioritization that takes place throughout your day.
• Knowing how to prioritize work affects the success of your work day, and/or your
contribution as part of the team.

• Biggest challenge – Accurately prioritizing the work that matters on a daily basis. You
must have the right insight and communication within your team to ensure you don’t have
2 people on the same task; that tasks are being completed timely; and that situations are
being resolved timely.
• Here are 6 steps to prioritize your working day:
COLLECT A LIST OF ALL YOUR TASKS
• Pull together everything you could possibly consider getting done in a day. Don’t worry
about order, or the number of items up front.
• If working email, this list will change throughout the day. Be aware of new items to add.
IDENTIFY URGENT VS IMPORTANT
• The next step is to see if you have any tasks that need immediate attention. This is work
that if not completed in the next 30 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc will have serious negative
consequences. (Incurred cost, customer dissatisfaction, driver delays, etc).
• Check to see if there are any high-pri dependencies that rely on you finishing up a piece
of work NOW.
• Again, working in email, this list will change throughout the day. Being able to adequately
recognize, and mentally label ‘urgent vs important’ tasks is very critical to correctly
prioritizing the work.
ASSESS VALUE
• Look at your important work, and identify what carries the highest value to the team,
business, or your daily workload. As general practice, you want to recognize what types
of tasks have top priority over the others. (SPM, HII, Customer, Trucker, etc).
• Will there be costs involved? Is this a 2 nd or 3rd request? What is the customer’s
temperament?
• Another way to assess value is to look at how many people are impacted by your
response. In general, the more people involved or impacted, the higher the stakes.
• EX. Better to answer an email about a trucker standing by (incurring wait time) than make
new bookings for an account.
• EX. Better to answer a booking request that is now a 3 rd request than one that is new.
• EX. Better to answer a terminal trying to close out the current vessel than SPM trying to
clean the rail on next ship.
ORDER TASKS BY ESTIMATED EFFORT
• If you have tasks that seem to tie for priority standing, check their estimates and start on
whichever one you think will take the most effort to complete.
• If you feel like you cant focus on your meatier projects before you finish up the shorter
tasks, then go with your gut and do that. It can be motivating to check a small task off the
list before diving into deeper waters.
• *Productivity experts suggest the tactic of starting the lengthier task first – Get the difficult
item out of the way, then you only have easy ones remaining**
BE FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE
• Uncertainty and change is a given.
• Know that your priorities will change, and often when you least expect them to.
• Here’s the trick – You also want to stay focused on the tasks your committed to
completing.

• Emails are received all day long – you must be flexible and adaptable to add to your “to
do” list, without forgetting to go back and pick up where you left off.
KNOW WHEN TO CUT
• You probably can’t get to everything on your list. After you prioritize your tasks and look
at your estimates, cut the remaining tasks from your list and FOCUS on the priorities that
you know you must and can complete for the day.
• Then, take a deep breath, dive in, and be ready for anything.
• To be clear, cutting from your list does not make the work go away. Make sure you
communicate with the proper parties an accurate time frame for completion. (ex. I have a
lot on my plate at this minute. If I can get to it by the end of the day, I will, otherwise will
handle first thing in the morning.) The key to this is actually following up and DOING it
the next morning. Do not get sidetracked if you have told someone you will complete
something by a deadline. That is now a priority.
KEYS TO EFFECTIVE FOLLOW
UP

https://lifehacker.com/5919223/a-stress-free-guide-to-remembering-to-follow-up-at-work/
• Follow up is an expected part of your daily job duties. If a customer requests something,
it is your responsibility to follow up until the issue is resolved.
• We should not have to wait for the customer to remind us to follow up. This should be
organized and completed on your own.
• Take ownership of the task/email/request/etc and follow it thru to the end.
ORGANIZE THE FOLLOW UP ITEMS
• This refers back to prioritization – Make a list of what you need to follow up on for the day,
the next day, the next week, etc. When you come across items that need to be followed
up at a later date, add them to that list.
• Each day, transfer items that were not completed to the current day’s list and re-prioritize
either on paper, in the system, or mentally.
LET EVERYONE KNOW UP FRONT YOU WILL
FOLLOW UP
• One of the most proactive things you can do to encourage people to get back to you is to
let them know that YOU will follow up with them later.
• It may take a few actual follow ups for your colleagues and customers to realize that you
are serious about it, but once they realize that you will come calling at a specific date and
time if they don’t get back to you, they will start getting back to you without your help.
The important thing is to start training them to understand that you will follow up, and they
shouldn’t be surprised when you do.
INCLUDE A DEADLINE IN YOUR REQUESTS
• It is important to let your coworkers and customers know when you need information.
• Give them adequate time to obtain the information, and start pinging them as soon as you
need it. You can close your emails with something like, “I need this information by
Thursday, so I will check back then if I haven’t heard anything from you”
• They will know you are coming, and over time, they will start getting back to you on their
own.
• You will also get a paper trail that shows you are being clear about your deadlines and
your follow ups which will prove useful in an event you need to escalate.
• You will be able to follow up without feeling like a jerk! Because hey, you warned them
you would be coming for the information! Set their deadline upfront and give yourself the
freedom to check back when you need to.
• Persistence may not mean “every hour” or “every day”. Depending on the timeline
needed for reply, be ‘thoughtfully’ persistent.
USE TECHNOLOGY TO HELP YOU REMEMBER
TO FOLLOW UP!
• If the problem is really that you are so busy you cant remember to follow up, there are
plenty of tools that can help you remember to check back with someone who owes you
information.
• Outlook Calendar – Add a follow up appointment that will notify everyone in your
group when to follow up.
• Outlook Reminder – direct from the message – Right click and choose “add
reminder” You can set a specific date and time to receive a message to follow up.
• Use the task list feature in Outlook – Adding tasks / making lists help you prioritize
and follow up accordingly.
DON’T FORGET THE HUMAN APPROACH
• Telling people ahead of time is great, and using automated tools to fire off emails is
certainly helpful, but nothing beats the old fashioned, CALL THEM ON THE PHONE or
GET UP AND WALK TO THEIR DESK approach.
• If you are having trouble with a coworker who never gets back to you on time, their inbox
is probably stuffed, or they are busy or disorganized. Sometimes the only way to get what
you need from someone is to stand next to their desk until they give it to you.
• Ultimately it is your responsibility to get what you need to do your job – so go get it! Just
saying, “I sent an email or multiple emails, and they didn’t respond,” doesn’t cut it for
good follow up skills. You need to take ownership and follow up until the situation/task is
completed.