Finding some logical order

Project management skills are not my strongest. I do pretty well but I am easily distracted by other projects that just seem more challenging or fun. I must be the artist in me saying, “this is boring now, what else can we figure out and make cool?” Unfortunately, this doesn’t fly when people need software yesterday.

So how do I prioritize? I tried just using straight up list but it got lost. So I tried an Excel list and it looks impressive, but it is still up to me to put things in the right order. Naturally, being a person who can make software, I figured I can make software that will prioritize for me.

I know there are packages that do this, like Microsoft’s Project, but I can only imagine how bloated it is and how much stuff it tracks that I really don’t need to track. Plus I’ve heard Project blows for software development.

First I thought about what determines priority and I came up with several criteria (in no particular order):

Who asked for the project? Unfortunately, who asks for a project usually trumps the actual need for the project. Politics and nepotism run rampant in my environment.

How does the project help move forward towards the Big Plan? The trick here is knowing what the Big Plan is. To me, this plan is made up of the goals YOU want to achieve overall.

How long do you expect the project will take to complete? Time is everything no matter what you do. If a project takes you a long time, maybe it should wait. If it is something you can do relatively quickly, do it and get it out of the way.

What is the deadline for this project? It doesn’t matter if it takes you a month to complete, if the right people need it by Friday, it needs to be done by Friday.

How many people will benefit from this project? This is another that often gets tossed by the way side in reality. While the greater good should come first, see the topic of politics.

Who will benefit from this project? This is a little different than how many will benefit. This is takes the angle of if the project benefits the end user, it’s good. If it is a project that benefits the developers (me) or something else, then it’s not as important.

Will the project directly help generate revenue or save spending? This is a biggie. Any thing that generates or saves money gets top billing.

What is the project’s current status? Because if you’re waiting for someone to continue, the project can’t be much of a priority. If you’re not in control, there’s not need to worry.

How many people have requested the project? This applies more so for little add-ons. If the project is in-demand, it’s probably smart to put it out soon.

What else is required for the project to be completed? And lastly, what has to be done before you can start on the project? If you’re building a house and you don’t have bricks, you’re not going to get far, thus this has far less priority than getting the supplies.

So you take all those criteria and give each possible option a value, the less important get a value of one, and got up for each option in any increment that you like. I used single increments.

After you make all your picks just calculate the score - just like one of those on-line quizzes. If the score of the project is high, so is the priority. If it’s low, it’s not that important. Of course, you have to consider the prerequisite projects too. Even if something has a higher score, it can’t go ahead of another project that must be completed first.

 Of course this is logical priority, not reality. So even though I have a nice form that helps me keep a tight ship on where projects lie, I still have to use the day-by-day judgment of what to do and when. And you can’t forget the “oh shit” projects that pop-up, those will always mess up your day - and your list.

If you’re interested, take a test drive (link below) and play around with the same software I wrote for myself. And heck, if you want the source for your own use, I can make it available.