Prioritization - Beyond the Quadrant ModelI have too much to do and not enough time to do it! Sound familiar? Well, we’re not alone in this plight. It’s no secret that today’s knowledge worker suffers from chronic overwork. A 2001 survey of nearly four thousand Information Technology workers revealed that 92% of respondents worked over 40 hours per week, and that of these, less than half received any financial compensation for their extra work. There are a variety of reasons for this trend, from under-resourcing and skills shortages, to unrealistic management expectations and employee eagerness. Under-resourcing is a big factor. How often have you been asked to “do more with less” or “juggle tasks better”?! The fact of the matter is we are masking a resourcing problem by insinuating that it is a performance problem. Not only is this unfair, it’s unethical. Resources impact results; this is obvious! It is logically contradictory to reduce resources with no impact on output. We have to stop trying to “do more”, and instead, learn to right-size work loads. One way to start doing this is to use a better prioritization model. I became interested in prioritization models after learning about Stephen Covey’s prioritization quadrants. I was immediately captured by his method of combining two separate constraints (Urgency and Importance) into a unified measure. 
This model provides a lot of value. Covey suggests that should focus on “quadrant 2 activities” (Important and Not Urgent) by getting rid of unimportant tasks and by planning ahead and being proactive to prevent urgent crises, which effectively moves tasks from quadrant 1 to quadrant 2. Since Dr. Covey published his model in 1989, the marketplace has evolved beyond this simple quadrant model, in many dramatic ways. In today’s agile and fast-paced environment, it may no longer be possible to completely prevent urgency as Covey suggests by using techniques of planning ahead and being proactive. This statement is not meant to undermine the importance of proactivity and foresight. In many circumstances, most urgent crises still can be avoided using exactly these techniques. It is critical though, to recognize that certain types of urgent situations are not predictable and therefore not avoidable. One should not however assume that all urgent crises are important, and even for those that are, there are actually many factors which must be considered. Urgency and importance are no longer sufficient to cut through the overwhelming volume of demands facing today’s managers, experts, and information workers. I have identified ten additional attributes of tasks that are just as salient as urgency and importance. By adding these to the basic concept of Covey’s model, we find a robust prioritization framework consisting of twelve common criteria and several optional ranking systems .
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