Prioritization in Project Management

Prioritization is one of the most critical parameters in project management. It’s the key to utilizing our resources in the most optimal way possible. Even if we had unlimited resources (which is never the case), we still need to know the sequence in which to tackle the tasks at hand.

If you’re a project manager, you’re likely facing some situations:

• Every project is extremely important and needs to be done urgently.
• You don’t have enough time and human resources to complete these projects.
• The scope desired at the beginning of the project may not be the same as it is during the project and as you approach its completion.

The role of a project manager is to successfully deliver the project. Success means delivering within the desired specifications, on time, and within the allocated budget. Of course, this is a very challenging task.

This leads us to the question: “Which of these projects should I prioritize?” Due to the inherent nature of the work, we always have to deal with uncertainties. This process can be quite exhausting. In a situation where everything seems urgent and rushed, nothing is truly a priority. This can lead to project delays and missed deadlines. Therefore, prioritization in project management is essential for companies. A clear system is needed for this purpose.

Prioritization Definition

Prioritization is the process of determining the level of importance and urgency of development or an event in a project. The main objective of prioritization is to ensure that the tasks that truly need to be done are completed. The key focus here is to avoid wasting time and money while accomplishing important tasks.

Why Do We Prioritize in Project Management?

The need for prioritization typically arises from not having enough resources to do everything we want. Therefore, it becomes imperative for companies or PMOs to develop a system that takes these constraints into account and contributes to maximizing the benefit by determining the sequence of tasks and their level of difficulty.

The sole purpose of all projects or developments we undertake is to create value for customers. Without prioritization in projects, planning becomes impossible. Without prioritization, it’s highly likely that tasks with the highest value will be postponed.

Typically (especially in Turkey), the approach followed is to prioritize the work of the business unit manager who makes the most noise or to prioritize tasks that offer higher value to customers with the most urgent delivery times.

Therefore, what I can recommend to you is to prioritize projects/tasks based on their business values. To implement this approach, healthy communication with stakeholders, management, and most importantly, your team is essential.

Many project leaders talk about mistakes such as failing to communicate with business units and management, not defining priorities well, or taking on more work than they can handle. The measure of how good project managers are lies in how successful they are at prioritization. This is the starting point for project managers to develop themselves.

Knowing which tasks to prioritize determines the success of the project, the motivation of the team, and the reputation of the project manager in the leadership role.

How Does Prioritization in Projects Affect Success Rates?

In the 2017 PMI report, we observe that some companies have higher success rates. The critical factor these companies pay attention to is prioritizing their projects strategically. Prioritization enables companies to focus more on their projects, which in turn increases the success rate. Ensuring alignment between project objectives and company strategies, and prioritizing them effectively, ensures optimal utilization of resources and time. Therefore, the primary responsibility of a project manager is to prioritize effectively.

When Prioritizing Projects, What Model Should We Use?

So, what should we do next? How should we proceed with a model among all projects? There is no one-size-fits-all model for this. These can vary depending on the project and the company.

Ranking Method:

This method is well-known and straightforward. It’s a model designed to facilitate selection among projects based on a ranking.

When using the Ranking Method, you establish several criteria to evaluate the project. You then rank the projects based solely on these criteria.

For example:

• Strategic Value: Is this important for our organization’s overall strategies? [1 = Very important, 5 = Not important]
• Cost: Will this project likely incur high costs? [1 = Low cost, 5 = High cost]
• Resource Impact: Will this project have a significant impact on our resources (people, equipment, etc.)? [1 = Low impact, 5 = High impact]

It offers a significant advantage due to its clear structure in the decision-making process. It challenges the PMO to make decisions and can help establish a certain standard as it can be applied to many similar projects within the company. You can adjust the weight of specific criteria.

The most important thing to note is not to increase the number of criteria too much. Increasing this number can slow you down in the decision-making process.

Scoring Method:

The scoring method in project management is a technique used to determine the priorities of different tasks or projects. This method is typically implemented using techniques such as “AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process)”, “MoSCoW Method”, or similar approaches. Essentially, each task or project is scored based on a set of criteria or factors, and these scores are then ranked according to priority.

• Criteria Determination: Important criteria for prioritization are identified. These criteria may be based on project objectives, budget, timeline, risks, and other significant factors.
• Determining Criteria Weights: The importance or weight of each criterion is determined. These weights are typically established based on expert opinions or team discussions.
• Scoring of Tasks or Projects: Each task or project is scored based on the identified criteria. This scoring process is conducted to determine how suitable the task or project is for each criterion.
• Summation of Scores and Evaluation: Scores given to each task or project are aggregated, and an overall evaluation is conducted. This evaluation is used to determine the priority order of tasks or projects.
• Reviewing Results and Decision Making: The scoring results are reviewed, and the project manager or team decides which tasks or projects are prioritized.

While the scoring method can be advantageous in creating multiple criteria, it can also turn into a disadvantage. Many companies can complicate the process by using different evaluation criteria, thus prolonging the decision-making process.