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Sometimes, no matter how busy you feel, it seems like you haven’t accomplished anything. It’s frustrating. It’s exhausting. And it contributes to the feeling of being overwhelmed and burnout.
A busy life is rewarding when you approach it in the right way. Your responsibilities to yourself, your employer, and your family keep you active and stimulated. But you might take too much on, leaving you feeling stressed and overworked. You need to take control of your obligations and learn how to manage everything on your plate.
A simple time management technique, like a priority matrix, can get your workday under control. This useful tool sorts day-to-day responsibilities and project-critical tasks based on importance and urgency, creating a plan of action that prioritizes high-value, high-impact work.
Understanding how to make a priority matrix can significantly improve your workflow and let you accomplish.
What is a priority matrix?
A priority matrix is a project management tool that compares task importance (how vital it is) to urgency (how quickly you need to finish it) and helps you organize a to-do list accordingly. There are multiple formats to choose from, depending on whether you manage personal tasks or a complex project with multiple team members.
Researchers know that human beings tend to focus on time-sensitive tasks over items that are less urgent but more important — also known as the Mere Urgency Effect. It feels good to cross things off your to-do list faster, but you might accidentally leave important tasks behind.
Sorting tasks according to a prioritization matrix helps you assess the value of your work and organize priorities, bypassing the Mere Urgency Effect. You’ll become more aware of the consequences of your choices and naturally direct your focus where it has the most impact.
There are a few different types of priority matrices, but their goals are all the same: to identify which tasks need immediate attention, which you can put off until you have more bandwidth, and which items you can ignore for the time being.
6 types of priority matrices
Priority matrices can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be. When setting up your system, select a format based on the complexity of the tasks you’re comparing — the more involved they are, the more criteria you’ll use in the assessment.
1. Eisenhower priority matrix
Created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and popularized by author Stephen Covey in his leadership book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the Eisenhower priority matrix is one of the simplest prioritization tools.
Using a 2x2 grid, you’ll separate projects into one of four quadrants according to importance and urgency. Then, you’ll place each task or project into a quadrant, determining which initiatives you tackle first. Here’s what those quadrants will look like:
Quadrant 1: Urgent and important
These are items of high importance and high urgency. They usually have clear deadlines and serious consequences if you don’t finish them. Tasks in this category could include:
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Finishing your portion of a project in time for hand-off
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Sending recall notices to customers via email
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Creating an agenda for an upcoming meeting
Quadrant 2: Not urgent, but important
Completing these tasks has the highest payoff, usually because they move you closer to reaching a goal. But they might not have a deadline, making them easy to procrastinate. A matrix lets you identify these tasks before you forget about them. Because they have the greatest rewards, this is where you want to spend most of your time. These might include:
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Creating a 5 year plan
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Signing up for a professional development course
Quadrant 3: Not important, but urgent
These tasks are urgent, but they’re generally lower on the priority list. Maybe they’re a small piece of a puzzle and don’t have the same impact as other things on your to-do list. Usually, these tasks don’t require a specific skill set, so delegate them to someone else on your team. Otherwise, they could become distractions. In this category, you might find:
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Organizing documents
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Editing meeting notes
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Responding to routine emails
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Creating a personal SWOT analysis
Quadrant 4: Not urgent or important
These items might not deserve a spot on your to-do list in the first place. Maybe they would be more useful later, and they’ll come up again as an urgent task down the line. But generally, you and the people around you are better off spending time elsewhere. Unimportant tasks could include:
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Responding to non-urgent, non-important emails
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Planning too far ahead
The Eisenhower matrix’s straightforward format lets you rank items quickly. But with only two variables and four categories, it lacks the necessary nuance to differentiate between similar competing priorities.
2. Action priority matrix
The Action priority matrix uses the same format as Eisenhower’s but with different criteria. Instead of importance and urgency, it categorizes tasks based on impact and effort:
- Quadrant 1: High Impact + Low Effort = Quick Win
- Quadrant 2: High Impact + High Effort = Major Project
- Quadrant 3: Low Impact + Low Effort = Fill-Ins
- Quadrant 4: Low Impact + High Effort = Thankless Tasks
Q3 and Q4 tasks take time away from Quick Wins and Major Projects, so delegate or remove them from your schedule whenever possible. This helps you create a more efficient action plan.
3. Paired comparison
Using the Paired comparison method lets you or your team quickly rank a list of important tasks. Using an “A versus B” model, you’ll compare each option against another and establish priority with a head-to-head vote on which task is more important. Use this model when prioritizing similar tasks.
4. Scoring model
A scoring model helps you decide which tasks have the most weight and return on investment. First, you’ll have to choose financial or strategic attributes like:
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Cost
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Impact
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Time
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Resources
Then list the tasks you need to weigh and assign each a numerical value for every characteristic. Add the numbers together to determine an item’s combined score. The most important task will score the highest, leaving the remainder ranked for priority based on their totals.
5. Kanban
Kanban is a visual form of the Agile methodology that usually appears in software development, but you can use it for different types of projects. It maps all the aspects of a project’s evolution into a graphic format — also known as a Kanban board — to provide transparency around resources, expectations, and timelines for every task.
Kanban methodology and priority matrices work hand in hand to ensure those with the skills and bandwidth to complete high-priority tasks receive those assignments. It gives you the chance to identify and schedule low-priority work as resources become available. You’ll evaluate changes in real-time and integrate them more easily into your workflow.
6. Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a framework for continuous organizational improvement that ensures the decision-making process adheres to logic, best practices, and group consensus. This methodology includes quite a few different systems for prioritization, depending on what your business needs.
One of the most prominent Six Sigma systems is Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC), in which you’ll:
- Define the problem or task at hand
- Measure performance
- Analyze to find weaknesses
- Improve the process
- Control future performance
This constant attention gives you the chance to consistently improve and reprioritize your to-do list.
How to make a priority matrix
Integrating a priority matrix into your project planning, whether that’s with a team or on your own, is relatively straightforward. Plan ahead and focus on organizing tasks as soon as you can. That way, nothing will slip through the cracks.
1. Establish goals
Decide what you want your priority matrix to achieve. Do you want to adjust your daily to-do list, or organize a whole project? Are these tasks straightforward, or are they harder to measure against each other? Understanding what you hope to achieve will determine which priority matrix template to use.
2. List your options
Working on your own or with your team, make a list of potential tasks or projects to work on. You might already know which are higher and lower priority, so write your list with that functionality in mind.
3. Determine criteria
Decide how you want to determine priority. One of the best criteria is a simple input versus output comparison — measuring how much effort a task takes against its outcome. But for more complex issues, you should weigh individual considerations such as time, resources, and cost against the value of a completed project.
4. Calculate positions
Considering your weighing criteria, score each item or option and place it into the appropriate section of the template you’re using. If that’s an Eisenhower or action priority matrix, that will be a quadrant, and if that’s a paired comparison or scoring model, that might be a chart or a simple list.
5. Analyze results
Review your results to determine which items you should prioritize for completion. This might be on a per-day, per-week, or even per-month basis. It might help to start with more urgent and important tasks first. Then, you can create a schedule and organize your to-do list accordingly.
Priority matrix strengths and weaknesses
While a priority matrix is a powerful task management tool, it won’t solve all your problems. Knowing how it can help and when it can’t empowers you to use them wisely.
The strengths of a priority matrix include:
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Speed: This matrix lets you organize multiple tasks of comparable importance quickly.
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Flexibility: It allows adjustments based on updated criteria or weighting options, visualizing how priorities shift over time.
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Customizable: Your template can be as simple or complex as you need, comparing unlimited options and criteria.
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Easy to understand: Priority matrices are intuitive, clearly identifying an item’s importance based on its position or final score.
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Transparency: A matrix simplifies team collaboration efforts by visually explaining task delegation.
Potential weaknesses might be:
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Creator’s bias: If you aren’t neutral about which tasks are most important, you may find yourself self-selecting based on implicit bias instead of set criteria.
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Conflicting priorities: Even with careful planning, two very different projects or tasks may score equally. If that happens, you’ll need to create a matrix or a pros and cons list using other measures to break the tie.
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Rigid: A priority matrix could limit teamwork and collaboration. If you have a small group that works well together, spending time on prioritization might be a waste.
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Training requirements: You’ll need to help new hires understand the logic behind prioritization methodologies so everyone approaches the process with the same growth mindset.
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Project delays: If you focus exclusively on tasks with the highest returns, you could leave some essential but less rewarding items until the last minute, placing deadlines in jeopardy.
The importance of prioritizing your tasks
Implementing a priority matrix lets you refocus your attention on high-value tasks and make you a more effective and productive person — at work and at home. It can help you develop anything from a self-care plan to your team’s next big project, all while giving you more time to say “yes” to the things that really matter.
