Setting priorities -- does it really work?
Conventional wisdom states that when confronted with too much to do, it is time to prioritize things. This is good advice, but it stops short. As a senior level manager once said: “Having ‘high’ priority projects short circuits planning and accountability. High priority projects don’t need to plan because they can rob lower priority projects if needed, and lower priority projects don’t plan because they know that it is inevitable that the high priority projects will come raiding for resources.” Priorities are useful, but they should be used strategically, and at a high level for allocating resources. Once those resources are assigned then project managers should be held accountable for planning to those resources. Of course people don’t show up when planned, other resources (e.g. money, equipment) may be reduced or delayed, and unexpected problems may be encountered, but grabbing resources from other projects should not be the first line of defense. Instead the project should have built in buffers, or shock absorbers to address these almost inevitable shortfalls/problems.
posted by VanceH- @ 1:19 AM
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