How to Prioritize When Everything Looks Important

How to choose what to do first — when everything feels urgent

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At the startup, we were trying to survive. At the corporation — we were drowning.
In the first case, we had 100 ideas and 3 people. In the second — 300 requests and 5 engineers.

In both cases, prioritization was critical. But it worked in completely different ways.

At the startup, it helped us figure out what might actually work.
At the corporation, it was a filter — only the tasks truly worth the team’s time got through.

Two different kinds of pain. But one thing in common: if you can’t prioritize, your product is ruled by randomness.

At first, it feels like you’re just doing everything. But in reality, you’re spending resources blindly:
– “This came from the top — so it must be important.”
– “This one’s easy, let’s just knock it out.”
– “And this… well, let’s keep it — just in case.”

That’s how I burned the first few months on one project. We had a roadmap. We had frameworks. We even had metrics. What we didn’t have was clarity on why this, and why now.

🙃 And that’s the common trap: everyone knows WSJF, RICE, ICE, and all those clever frameworks — but no one explains where they actually work.

This article is not just another list. It’s a field guide:
when frameworks help, when they don’t — and how to choose what truly matters.

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Why Prioritization Matters (Even If You Have a Roadmap)

In my previous articles, I wrote about building a product strategy and turning it into a roadmap — how to choose direction and lay out a path.

But here’s the thing: even with a crystal-clear strategy and a beautifully structured roadmap, things can go sideways.

Just open the backlog — and instead of a plan, you’ll hear a chorus of voices:

– “Marketing needed this yesterday!”
– “This is easy — we can knock it out in a day!”
– “It’s not really our job… but let’s keep it anyway.”

Prioritization isn’t just a buzzword for slides. It’s what protects your product from randomness.

Here are three scenarios where I’ve personally messed it up:

1. Startup: More ideas than users
We’d build whatever the founder came up with on a Friday night.
He’d come back from a conference saying,
“We need an AI feature — everyone has one now!”
No point arguing. We’d put it at the top of the list — just in case it worked.
Then spend the next month wondering why our retention was dropping.

2. Corporation: More tasks than engineers
Sales wants one thing. Finance wants another. Legal sends over tasks “for review.”
Without a formal system like WSJF or RICE, you end up circling in meetings saying,
“I’ll think about it.”
And then you do the thing that’s easiest to explain to a stakeholder.

3. Team dynamics skew everything
Even without external pressure, the loudest argument often wins.
– “This is critical for our users!”
– “No, this one is quick and easy!”
– “Let’s build that nice-looking placeholder — maybe it’ll click?”

Without a simple way to step back and look at the whole picture, your team stalls.

That’s where prioritization brings back objectivity.
Not “who’s more persuasive,” but:
– What are we doing now
– What’s next, if we still have capacity
– What’s nice to have — but not urgent

📌 Prioritization isn’t about a spreadsheet.
It’s about clarity and alignment.
And sometimes — it’s the only thing that saves your quarter from being wasted.