If everything is urgent… then we have a problem
Marking the difference between urgent and important tasks is key to succeed
Working on an agile environment or in a start-up that is creating a new product is usually very dynamic and fast-paced. Things can change suddenly, especially since it’s common that you are still defining your main ideas, building your first prototypes or even validating your product in the market. Multiple factors can induce changes or constraints that threaten your status quo; you have to be open to adapt to new circumstances and challenges, but you should do so in an organized way.
No matter what you are doing, if there are 2 or more people involved; planning and prioritizing are crucial. Having clear responsibilities, tasks and goals are key so that each team member can contribute to a successful outcome. Of course, as a result of external circumstances, there can be urgent and unplanned challenges that can happen, and you need to overcome those hurdles. The key is to learn and determine what is really urgent and what is not.
It is not unusual that people working in start-ups or small companies take on multiple roles or wear different hats, and it’s understandable that urgent things and emergencies can always happen. However, not everything should be treated as urgent because it usually means a lack of planning and prioritization.
As resources and people are limited and valuable, having a clear objective in mind with the corresponding activities prioritized becomes very important.
There are multiple approaches when creating a roadmap or a backlog of activities. Digital tools or even a whiteboard and post-its can do the trick. It is counterproductive to react one second after getting a new requirement and to start implementing a solution or moving pixels without thinking twice; that only contributes to creating more chaos in most cases.
Understanding the nature of urgency is even more important than just asking for actions; figuring out the root cause can lead to successful ways to solve the issue. Everyone, from team members to stakeholders and key executives need to understand that not everything can be done at once. Sometimes, a temporary solution needs to be applied to stop the fire, and you should then revisit it to find a long-term solution.
If your team receives multiple requirements that are always marked as urgent, it will affect their sense of urgency and limit their reaction capacity. It’s not healthy for your team to be in constant alert due to urgent requirements. It’s even worse to mark everything as urgent and then tell your team members that it will be postponed, or that seeing it with fresh eyes is not as urgent as it was supposed to be.
If an “urgent” requirement arrives, try to do as much as possible to assess its real priority, who needs to be involved and what actions can be done to mitigate the risk. Having a clear goal, work plan and defined priorities in emergency moments can be the key difference between success and failure.
Differentiating between what is important and what is urgent is key to have a balanced workload and successfully address all issues.
