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TOP's Thinking on Prioritization - "PRIORITIZATION IS SIMPLE" has gone out. Here's an excerpt...
Many organizations struggle with how to prioritize their projects; how to objectively select the highest priority projects that are strategically relevant, worthwhile, doable and required to be done now. Yet it really is quite simple.
BUT there is a prerequisite – that the ‘powers that be’ in the organization accept upfront that prioritization means that some of their projects will not get up, will not be actioned. Many an executive will accept the need for prioritization – provided it doesn’t impact his or her projects!
This acceptance of potential pain, of the potential loss of a desired project is where many prioritization processes fail – they just don’t have the commitment of the senior executives. The best solution to this is to get the CEO on side and committed – to ensure the rest follow.
Assuming you’ve got the commitment, the prioritization process is a sequential series of criteria. Failure on any one criterion is not necessarily fatal; failure on two or more usually is fatal. There are seven criteria.
1 Is it ‘Mandatory’?
The ONLY projects that are ‘mandatory’ are those required by legal or regulatory change. Many other projects may be ‘necessary’ but not mandatory. The replacement of a failed server, for example, may be urgent and necessary, but it is not mandatory.
Mandatory projects don’t get a free pass. The key questions for mandatory projects are...
