![]() You cannot in good conscience set a critical priority unless you also designate desirable projects from which resources will be immediately transferred to the designated critical project when required. “Whenever Miguel and Aisha are not required on our critical product launch they will work on installing the software upgrade.” Progress will be made only when and if resources become available.īecause resources are fixed for all critical and important priorities, the potential “blank check” resources that may be required to hit a critical project must all come from desirable projects. The organization desires an outcome but cannot absolutely commit specific resources over any specifiable time period. ![]() Alternatively, an organization may declare that it will invest a specified amount of resources for as long as it takes to achieve an objective: “We’re going to assign Miguel and Aisha to install the new software, however long that will take.” An important priority implies that the organization be understanding when the objective is variable and patient when time may vary.Ī desirable priority is an effort in which resources and time are both variables. A leader might say, “Let’s assign Miguel and Aisha to this project full time for the next quarter.” The organization, if it is operating rationally, should be willing to accept however much improvement it can get from that fixed investment. For example, an organization may have an aspirational objective but fix the resources that it feels it can afford to invest over a specified time. For these initiatives, resources are fixed and the variable is either time or the objective. And all critical priorities are, by definition, equal within the category.Īn important priority, on the other hand, is an effort that can have a significant positive impact on performance. Though leaders may not realize it, declaring a project “critical” implies that it must be accompanied by a de facto blank check, enabling the manager to draw on all other available resources within the organization. If the leader is sincere about the priority, then she must make available to the project manager all the resources requested. If the objective of winning the order is set and the timing is nonnegotiable, then the only element you can manipulate is resources (money, people, equipment). For example, it might be critical that a company wins a new order (which will be awarded on a given date) from a major customer, or gets a factory fully operational by a certain day. She will be forced to acknowledging three kinds of priorities: critical, important, and desirable.Ī critical priority is an objective that must be successfully accomplished within a specified amount of time, no matter what. Once a leader decides what resources will be allocated to achieve which objectives over what periods of time, she has no more need for ranking. Resources are what enable an objective to be accomplished within a set time without dedicated means, an initiative is pure fantasy. This article also appears in:Īll three variables are important, but resources reign supreme. If you push or pull on one leg of this triangle, you must adjust the others. ![]() You can’t produce the desired effect of a project without precise objectives, ample resources, and a reasonable time frame. To wit: There are three interdependent variables that are essential for executing any initiative - objectives, resources, and timing. It can be tremendously demotivating to managers to be assigned a rank, and it all but guarantees dissension and turf wars among team members.Ī better way to establish priorities is to put rank ordering aside and return to first principles. When I work with leaders on the crucial task of priority setting, however, I caution against rank ordering. To meet this challenge, leaders often turn to rank ordering their priorities it is natural and easy to make a list. ![]() Grading the importance of various initiatives in an environment of finite resources is a primary test of leadership. Smart leaders understand that their job requires them to identify trade-offs, choosing what not to do as much as what to do. ![]()
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