Working on the most important task

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Created: February 10, 2020 / Updated: November 2, 2024 / Status: finished / 1 min read (~165 words)
Questions Software development

Why aren't we always working on the most important task?

For bad reasons:

  • We don't want to work on the most important task.
  • The most important task feels overwhelming.
  • The most important task seems too risky.
  • The most important task doesn't seem fun to work on.
  • We want to work on fun tasks, not hard tasks.
  • We want to work on what interests us, not what provides the most value.
  • We think that the task we're working on is more important, but it isn't.
  • We don't know how to solve the most important task.

For acceptable reasons:

  • We don't know what is the most important task at the moment.
  • We don't understand what is important to our clients.

For good reasons:

  • The most important task has prerequisites that need to be completed before it can be done.
  • The most important task is being done by someone else already.
  • The importance of tasks is likely to change soon due to a change in objectives.