Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Prioritization for designers and product managers (1st of 3 seminars)
Summary
This is part 1 of a 3-part series on prioritization, led by Harry Max, author of Managing Priorities: How to Create Better Plans and Make Smarter Decisions. Part 2 | Part 3 Prioritization is a deceptively tricky topic that lurks behind the scenes but informs everything. It’s a fundamental skill for organizations, teams, and ICs, and most people accept that it’s essential, but we are not taught how to do it. You can prioritize almost anything, not just goals, projects, and tasks; values, for example. Our main challenge is finding new methods to reach goals amongst multiple teams with conflicting priorities. There is some good news: there is a repeatable process model. And some approaches are better than others, especially for organizations and teams. This conversation will take the topic to a new level. It will also help you gain a profound new level of clarity about creating better plans and making smarter decisions.
Key Insights
-
•
Prioritization is often confused with personal productivity or time management, but it applies broadly to resource allocation within teams and organizations.
-
•
Top organizations manage prioritization intuitively even without explicit frameworks, by knowing what matters most and making tough trade-offs.
-
•
Priorities are not legitimate until they are properly prioritized by assigning measurable attributes and values to items for comparison.
-
•
Different levels of abstraction in prioritization require framing, such as comparing streams of small tweaks as a whole against large complex projects.
-
•
Having multiple simultaneous priorities is possible; urgency and value profiles differ, so forced ranking is often impractical.
-
•
Prioritization is as much a continuous process involving revisiting assumptions and adapting to new information as it is a one-time decision.
-
•
Clear ownership of prioritization responsibilities is essential to avoid confusion and ensure accountability in decision-making.
-
•
Confusing prioritizing work items with prioritizing customer segments or goals leads to misalignment among product and design teams.
-
•
Overprioritization without clarity leads to 'lack of a priority' problems, causing teams to spread resources thinly and reduce effectiveness.
-
•
Effective prioritization balances setting strategic direction with practical resource capacity allocation and must handle trade-offs gracefully.
Notable Quotes
"There’s a huge gap between theory and practice when it comes to prioritization in complex dynamic environments."
"Priorities aren’t priorities until they’ve been prioritized with attributes and values; otherwise they’re just items."
"It’s actually very hard to prioritize things that are apples versus oranges without framing them similarly first."
"People often confuse prioritization with sequencing – understanding relative importance is one thing, but when and how you do things matters too."
"If all 50 items are said to be important, you can’t do them all at once; starting randomly is better than stalling."
"Most teams have way too many false priority ones – their number one priority is the lack of a priority."
"Ownership means anticipating, observing, orienting, deciding, acting, and monitoring – there has to be a clear owner for these phases."
"Prioritization is as much about saying no gracefully as it is about saying yes to the right things."
"If you spend 15 out of 62 business days prioritizing and still don’t have a clear list, you’re probably prioritizing at the wrong level."
"What am I avoiding? Asking that every day turns out to be a surprisingly powerful prioritization tool."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"By the time the report comes out, your immediate team should have already moved on with implementing feedback."
Anna Avrekh Dr. John Pagonis Klara Pelcl Sina SchreiberExpert Panel: Leading in and with Research
March 10, 2022
"We often adapt within imperfect systems rather than fight them outright, aiming for longer-term change."
Taylor KlassmanShaping the Next Era of UX Research: Collaborative Forum
March 11, 2025
"Our standard research frameworks and tools are often inadequate for addressing complex social problems."
Dr. Jamika D. Burge Steve Portigal Alba Villamil Sam LadnerThe Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps
July 29, 2021
"Build your pool, build your practice. If you provide a great testing experience, you’ve got another person to add to your group."
Marisa BernsteinIt Takes GRIT: Lessons from the Small, but Mighty World of Civic Usability Testing
December 9, 2021
"If you use AI tools, ask for five different ways to do something, not just one, to force exploration."
Dan Mall“Ask Me Anything” with Dan Mall, Author of Upcoming Rosenfeld Title, Design that Scales
October 2, 2023
"What am I personally doing to contribute to the dynamics that stand in the way of better futures?"
Chris GeisonTheme 1 Intro
March 9, 2022
"It’s worth explaining your new communication approach to stakeholders to save their time and foster discussion."
Bruce GillespieLearning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling
March 13, 2025
"If you put garbage in, garbage comes out – AI reflects the biases in its training data."
Nancy DouyonWe'll Figure That Out in the Next Launch: Enterprise Tech's Nobility Complex
June 15, 2018
"There’s never really conflicting futures—everyone wants to take care of the most vulnerable children; you just have to find the bridge between visions."
Liz EbengoThe Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
December 4, 2024
