I did prioritization wrong for way too long. The reason is that I only did half of what’s needed for prioritization to actually happen.
The half I did is the easy half, and it’s the half most leaders do. We make the list. We identify the things we think matter most, or would be best for the business. Maybe the list gets to five. We try to keep it under five. (For some people the list is just wrong, and that’s a problem in itself.) But that’s the easy part: naming the things we’d be excited to get done and think would be really good.
Prioritization becomes helpful when you do the other half. You also identify the things that almost made the list. Number six. Number seven. The things you really wish you had the time or energy for. And you decide, actively, how you’re going to guard against putting any resources, energy, or dollars into them.
It’s easy to say no to things that never would have made the list, or would have been way down it. It’s really hard to say no to the things that almost made it. If you have one through five, you’re going to be tempted to prioritize six.
The best leaders, and the companies moving fastest toward their potential, are the ones who are good at actively guarding against what almost made the list. They have the end in mind, and they know those things can be on the list next quarter.
Part of what’s hard about this, and it’s hard for me, is that sometimes you have to let fires burn. Part of what we do with priorities is solve problems, and we can’t solve every problem. We also have to seize opportunities. And we have to put as much as possible into the number one problem instead of spreading resources thin across twenty problems.
One of the hardest things is showing up to your business every day, looking at the problems over there, and thinking: I would love to solve those today. I can’t. I’m not going to solve for this person. I’m not going to fill this function we’re missing. I’m not going to expand marketing or sales, or launch that other product, or fix the part of the product we know is an issue, because it doesn’t fit our top five.
The end of the year is a good time to step back from the day-to-day. A lot of us do: we reflect and think about what’s really going to matter next year. How do we keep ourselves from getting overcommitted? How do we keep our businesses and teams from getting overcommitted? How do we move better toward our potential?
So do both halves. Choose the things that matter and get them really clear. Then get really clear on the things that almost made the list, and decide how you’re going to guard against them.
— Craig