Too many people are shockingly bad at prioritisation

WORK is a series of decisions about what to prioritise. Occasionally, events set the agenda: When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world in 2020, for example, it was pretty obvious which problems firms had to focus on.

But, normally, managers must weigh up for themselves how to allocate capital, decide which initiatives to concentrate on and work out which numbers matter most. Product teams have to choose which features to work on first. Sales teams must decide which customers to focus on.

And day by day, hour by hour, individuals have to work out how to spend their next chunk of time.