{"id":15939,"date":"2017-01-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/"},"modified":"2017-01-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T06:00:00","slug":"how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/","title":{"rendered":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <!-- .post-meta --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a project manager, balancing and prioritizing is half the battle. You have to be able to assign tasks to team members in a way that makes the most of everyone&#x2019;s limited time. This can be difficult, however, when your project stakeholders seem to want every single task to be a number one priority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\" alt=\"How to Prioritize Your To-Do List\" height=\"400\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you start to feel overwhelmed by the challenges of project prioritization, remember that there&#x2019;s always a path forward. You may not be able to keep every project stakeholder perfectly happy along the way, but if you use the strategies described below, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Track Your Tasks in a Single Location<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you can&#x2019;t evaluate your project tasks and requirements all in the same place, you&#x2019;ll have a hard time making reasonable decisions about what should come first. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/project-management-software\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advanced project management solutions like Planview AdaptiveWork<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> make it easy to define, track and organize project tasks, so that nothing slips through the cracks. Planview AdaptiveWork also allows all project team members to see the current project plan in real time, helping everyone stay informed about changes to timing or priorities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Confirm Your Time and Effort Estimates<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even the best project managers sometimes miss the mark when <\/span><a href=\"\/3-tips-for-estimating-project-duration-as-accurately-as-possible\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">estimating the time required for certain project tasks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When you&#x2019;re faced with a long list of high-priority items, it&#x2019;s worth taking a second look and determining whether you&#x2019;ve allotted too much or too little time to any of the tasks on your team&#x2019;s plate. Ask for feedback from your team members to help refine your estimates, and consider moving to a bottom-up approach to project planning, rather than the traditional top-down model.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Evaluate Risks and Impacts<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you&#x2019;re facing a situation in which some tasks or deliverables will have to be completed late, it&#x2019;s important to have a clear understanding of the downstream effect a missed deadline will have. Often, it&#x2019;s better to de-prioritize a high-visibility task that has fewer dependencies later in the project plan, rather than delaying a seemingly less important task on which dozens of other activities depend. It&#x2019;s also important to understand the budgetary effect of extending the deadlines for different tasks, especially when they involve keeping team members on the project for longer than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Get Input from Senior Stakeholders<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As every experienced project manager knows, senior stakeholders don&#x2019;t always communicate their priorities clearly the first time around. If you are struggling to fit competing tasks into your timeline, explain the situation to the customer, executive sponsor or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/what-do-your-stakeholders-need-to-know-about-your-project\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">other high-level stakeholder<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. You may get clarification on a few points that will take the stress out of your project management prioritization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you looking for ways to reduce stress, increase efficiency and improve project quality? Learn more about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/work\/project-management-solutions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clarizen&#x2019;s industry-leading solutions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for project planning, reporting and collaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"client-logo\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"Siemens Energy\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2020\/08\/siemens_energy-200x100.png\" alt=\"Siemens Energy\"><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"IIROC Success\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2020\/07\/IIROC_logo-200x100.gif\" alt=\"IIROC Success\"><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"Financial Services Institution\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2020\/04\/FINANCIAL-SERVICES-IMG-200x100.jpg\" alt=\"Financial Services Institution\"><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"M Squared\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2020\/03\/m-squared-logo-200x100.jpg\" alt=\"M Squared\"><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"Aliancys Success\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2019\/12\/aoc_aliancys-logo-800x400-200x100.jpg\" alt=\"Aliancys Success\"><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarizen.com\/customers\/\" title=\"Bonfiglioli Success\"><img class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2019\/11\/bonfiglioli_logo-800x400-200x100.jpg\" alt=\"Bonfiglioli Success\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a project manager, balancing and prioritizing is half the battle. You have to be able to assign tasks to team members in a way that makes the most of everyone&#x2019;s limited time. This can be difficult, however, when your project stakeholders seem to want every single task to be a number one priority. When&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pmo-project-management-organizations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Team AdaptiveWork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Team AdaptiveWork\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Team AdaptiveWork\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e307731bc782b0042d055366fc035e50\"},\"headline\":\"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\"},\"wordCount\":513,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Project Portfolio Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\",\"name\":\"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"name\":\"Planview Blog\",\"description\":\"Leading the conversation on digital connected work\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planview\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png\",\"width\":280,\"height\":66,\"caption\":\"Planview\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Planview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e307731bc782b0042d055366fc035e50\",\"name\":\"Team AdaptiveWork\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/team-adaptivwork\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important","description":"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important","og_description":"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/","og_site_name":"Planview Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","article_published_time":"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Team AdaptiveWork","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Planview","twitter_site":"@Planview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Team AdaptiveWork","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/"},"author":{"name":"Team AdaptiveWork","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e307731bc782b0042d055366fc035e50"},"headline":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important","datePublished":"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/"},"wordCount":513,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg","articleSection":["Project Portfolio Management"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/","name":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00","description":"With these strategies, you can make the most effective use of your available resources while keeping your projects on track.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.planview.com\/clarizen\/wp-content\/upload\/2016\/12\/prioritize.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-to-prioritize-your-to-do-list-when-everything-is-important\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to prioritize your to-do list when everything is important"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","name":"Planview Blog","description":"Leading the conversation on digital connected work","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization","name":"Planview","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/planview-logo-black.png","width":280,"height":66,"caption":"Planview"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772","https:\/\/x.com\/Planview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e307731bc782b0042d055366fc035e50","name":"Team AdaptiveWork","url":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/author\/team-adaptivwork\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}