Prioritisation
Part of Work prioritisation
Comparing urgent requests with agreed priorities
Assess an urgent work request against current commitments, identify the response window and agree on what moves if it takes precedence.
When an urgent request arrives, establish the consequence of waiting, then compare it with work already promised. If the request must take precedence, name what will move and get approval from whoever owns that commitment. An urgent label alone creates no capacity and cancels no promise.
Establish the response window
Ask the requester what result they need, who is affected and the latest time it would still be useful. What happens if the team responds at its next normal review? A live customer issue, a safety concern and a request for a draft “as soon as possible” may each need a different response.
Use the organisation’s established incident or service route when immediate action is required. Otherwise, gather enough detail for a considered choice. If the consequence of delay is unclear, agree when the requester will clarify it.
Compare consequences on the same basis
Put the new request beside the current commitment it would displace. Ask what each item enables, who relies on its timing, what can pause safely and whether a smaller response would meet the immediate need. Check any claimed fixed deadline or customer consequence that could change the decision.
| Question | New request | Current commitment |
|---|---|---|
| Needed result | What is useful now? | What was promised? |
| Consequence of waiting | What changes if it waits? | What changes if it moves? |
| Authority | Who can approve it? | Who can change the promise? |
| Smaller option | Would a partial response help? | Can scope or timing change? |
The table is a comparison prompt, not a scoring formula.
Make one explicit decision
Respond now, schedule the request, offer a smaller interim result, route it to an authorised owner or decline it. If it takes precedence, state the displaced work and its new date or next decision point. Confirm changes to customer or cross-team commitments with the person authorised to make them.
For example, a manager requests a full report by Friday while an analyst is preparing a promised client proposal. If one figure would support Friday’s decision, the analyst could offer that first. If the full report is essential, the manager and proposal owner need to agree which commitment changes.
The analyst should not be left to promise both. This is an illustrative scenario, not a tested outcome.
Leave a trail others can act on
Record what entered, what moved, who agreed and when the decision will be reviewed. Tell people affected by the changed promise. If urgent requests repeatedly displace the same work, raise the pattern in planning. It may point to missing service coverage, unrealistic commitments or an unclear route for approving exceptions.
