How to Prioritize Tasks for Multiple Projects

I get asked a lot by people, "Ryan, how do you manage all these different projects?" It isn't easy and I am not perfect at it, but you can climb the highest mountain by taking one step at a time. 10 Tips for Mastering Multi-Tasking Like a Pro 🚀 1️⃣ Prioritize Your Tasks 📝 Start with high-impact tasks first. Use the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent vs. important) to decide what needs immediate attention. 2️⃣ Use Time Blocking ⏳ Dedicate specific time slots for different tasks. Avoid context-switching by grouping similar activities together. 3️⃣ Leverage Technology 📲 Use productivity tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion to organize tasks and track progress efficiently. 4️⃣ Set Clear Deadlines ⏰ Give yourself a time limit for each task. Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available—keep deadlines tight! 5️⃣ Master the 2-Minute Rule ⚡ If a task takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it immediately instead of adding it to your to-do list. 6️⃣ Limit Distractions 🚫📵 Silence notifications, close unnecessary tabs, and use focus apps like Freedom or Forest to stay in the zone. 7️⃣ Batch Similar Tasks Together 🔄 Answer emails in one go, make all phone calls at once, and schedule social media updates in bulk instead of spreading them throughout the day. 8️⃣ Use the Pomodoro Technique 🍅 Work in focused 25-minute intervals followed by short breaks. This helps maintain energy and prevents burnout. 9️⃣ Learn to Delegate 🙌 If someone else can handle a task better or faster, delegate it. Free up time for high-value work. 🔟 Take Breaks & Recharge 🌿 Multi-tasking can drain mental energy. Step away, stretch, hydrate, or take a walk to refresh your mind before diving back in. ✅ Bonus Tip: Focus on progress over perfection—multi-tasking isn’t about doing everything at once but managing tasks efficiently without sacrificing quality! #Productivity #TimeManagement #Efficiency #WorkSmarter #Multitasking

Most of us struggle to name our priorities. Did you know that many AI agency owners can't decide what to tackle first? This skill, known as prioritization, is crucial for better productivity and growth. Eisenhower Matrix It’s a tool that helps sort tasks by urgency and importance. It teaches us to focus on what truly matters, boosting our agency's output. Here are a few specific techniques you can use to improve your prioritization: 1. Urgent + Important: Do these tasks ASAP These tasks directly impact your bottom line and can't wait. Think of client deadlines, critical bug fixes, or securing that game-changing contract. Tackle these first. 2. Important, but not urgent: Schedule these tasks These tasks are crucial for your long-term success but don't have a pressing deadline. Think strategic planning, team training, or process optimization. Block out time for these in your calendar. 3. Urgent, but not important: Delegate these tasks These tasks need to get done quickly but don't require your personal attention. Think data entry, basic research, or routine admin work. Train your team to handle these or consider automating them. 4. Neither urgent nor important: Cut these tasks These are the true time-suckers. Think endless email scrolling, needless meetings, or low-value busy work. Eliminate these ruthlessly. Your time is your most precious resource. Implementing the Eisenhower Matrix revolutionized my agency's output. We cut our weekly meetings by 50%, automated 30% of our admin tasks, and saw a 25% jump in billable hours - all within a month. But don't just take my word for it. Grab a pen and try it yourself: List out all your current tasks Sort them into the four quadrants Take action: do, schedule, delegate, or delete Repeat weekly to keep your priorities razor-sharp The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple hack, but its impact can be profound. Give it a shot and watch your agency's productivity skyrocket. Remember: It's not about doing more things - it's about doing the right things. Prioritize ruthlessly and watch your agency soar.

I've managed 5 high-performing product marketing teams at startups and public companies, and there are 2 commonalities I've noticed at each: 1) it's easy for PMMs to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks on their plates, and 2) teams are rarely recognized for their true effort or impact by upper management. That's why I want to share my prioritization matrix 👇 It’s been a game-changer in how my teams approach projects and focus on what truly drives results. I’m curious—does this framework resonate with your approach to prioritizing tasks? Here's the concept: Rack up the wins by focusing on projects that offer high visibility and impact for lower effort and avoid those that drain your energy and don’t align with company goals. (Note: you could replace visibility with impact on this scale, but it's important that what you're working on is actually on the radar of those in upper management). Here’s how to prioritize: Quick Wins: These are the golden opportunities! High visibility, low difficulty — they bring great returns with minimal effort. Look for ways to get a few of these in your quarter. Strategic Initiatives: Aim for ONE strategic initiative per quarter. These are high-visibility, high-difficulty tasks that are aligned with your long-term goals. Go deep, plan ahead, and focus on the impact. You will be the most proud of these, but you need to be realistic about them. Routine Tasks: You’ve got to keep up with these, but don't let them consume too much of your time. Find a system to manage them efficiently. Avoid: Stay clear of high-difficulty, low-visibility tasks. These projects often don't yield the results you need, and they’re energy-draining. They don't align with your values or long-term success. 💡 Action Step: Review your current or upcoming projects. Classify them into high or low reward, and high or low effort. What projects are you spending too much time on that aren’t worth the effort? Time to realign and focus on what truly matters! #Productivity #TimeManagement #Prioritization #WorkSmart #StrategicFocus #CareerGrowth #Leadership How do you manage your / your team’s workload?

As you move into senior engineering positions, there’s never enough time to do everything that’s on your plate 😅 You might be tempted to catch up on your weekend / evenings. Or just constantly shuffle from one to the next trying to keep everything afloat. Something that’s helped me the last few yrs is ruthless prioritization. 👇🏼 ↪️ What can I delegate? ❌ What do I need to say no to? ✅ What do I need to do immediately? 🚀 What is really going to move the needle forward? But sometimes it’s hard to know what the top priorities are... One thing that’s really helped me is to write a daily + weekly summary of all the competing priorities I’m working on. Next, I’ll “manage up” in my communication by sharing them with my manager. We try to take that list of 25 things I’m juggling, and outline the 2-3 “must dos”, and what are some key things I can drop. Once we are aligned I move forward and intentionally drop those things that are not priorities. I’ll then reach out to a stakeholder of something I dropped with a quick message. “Hey! Just wanted to let you know I’ve had to pause this priority. Currently my top focus is x/y/z, which is due next week. I’ll circle back and focus on this once we deliver x/y/z. If it can’t wait, let me know and we can chat.” Proactively choosing the high and low priorities helps me stay productive on on what really matters, and earn trust by keeping my manager and stakeholders in the loop. At some point if you try to do everything, you’ll end up doing nothing. Learn to say no. So you can say yes to everything that really matters. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How do you juggle everything that’s on your plate? I’d love to hear any questions or tips you have. 🙋♀️🙋♂️ P.S. If you liked this post, you’ll probably love my weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e8d5ymr3 

How to Prioritize When Everything Feels Urgent 👇 Ever feel like everything on your to-do list is "urgent"? As Product Managers, this feeling can be overwhelming. But the truth is, not everything is equally important. Today, I’m sharing simple strategies and personal methods to master prioritization even when everything feels urgent. 1. The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle): Focus on High-Impact Tasks When everything feels urgent, it’s easy to confuse "busy" with "productive." How it works: The 80/20 Rule states that 80% of results come from 20% of the work. My Approach: Identify the 20% of tasks that will create 80% of the impact. Ask, "If I could only accomplish one task today, which one would have the biggest impact?" Ruthlessly cut or postpone "low-impact" tasks until essential work is done Example: Instead of responding to every email immediately, I’ll spend the first hour of my day working on the most critical task like preparing a roadmap presentation for stakeholders. 2. One Big Thing" Method: Reduce Cognitive Overload When everything feels urgent, decision fatigue sets in fast. How it works: Focus on just one "big thing" per day and make it your primary goal. My Approach: Every morning, I ask, "If I could only achieve one thing today, what would it be?" I write it down at the top of my planner and prioritize it over everything else. Once it’s done, I’ll move on to smaller tasks or "urgent" requests. Example: If I need to finalize a product strategy document, that becomes my "One Big Thing" for the day. Only after it's complete will I review smaller tasks like answering Slack messages or attending low-priority meetings. 3. The 2-Minute Rule: Avoid Task Accumulation Tiny, quick tasks have a sneaky way of building up until they feel "urgent." How it works: If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it now instead of delaying. My Approach: I’ll address simple requests (like approving an expense) as soon as I see them. This prevents my task list from filling up with low-effort items that drain my mental bandwidth. Example: Instead of saving 5 tiny Slack requests to "do later," I’ll handle them at the moment if they take less than 2 minutes. Prioritization isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things.   Which of these 3 methods do you use most often? #productmanager #productmanagement

Starting a new PMM role can feel like you're juggling a million tasks all at once. 🤯 So, how do you prioritize what to tackle first? Here’s where the Action Priority Matrix comes in. This simple 2x2 matrix helps you categorize tasks based on Impact and Effort, allowing you to quickly identify "Quick Wins" and strategically plan larger projects. Here’s how you can make it work for you: 1️⃣ List all your tasks for the week (or another time period you prefer). 2️⃣ Rate the impact: For each task, ask yourself how impactful it is on a scale of 0-10. Remember, impact is about how crucial it is to the company’s and team’s key goals. 3️⃣ Evaluate the effort: Then, score the effort required to complete each task. 3️⃣ Plot your tasks on a 2x2 matrix and group them into 4 categories: -----> Quick Wins: Focus here to build early wins and gain confidence. -----> Major Projects: Plan these strategically. Break them into smaller milestones and turn them into quick wins, or seek additional resources. -----> Fill-Ins: Tackle these when you have downtime, or reduce the scope if possible. ----->Thankless Tasks: Avoid these. Delegate or eliminate them! The image shows some sample PMM activities grouped by category - bear in mind these are just examples :) Once you have your priorities mapped out, turn them into an easy to consume list and communicate them to your manager and get their feedback. This is a great way to show that you’re organized and disciplined. Don't be afraid to ask for support—or politely push back by explaining why some tasks may need to be prioritized. Over the years, this simple yet powerful framework has helped my clients achieve more results while avoiding burnout. What has worked for you? #ProductMarketing #newjob #coaching #growth #tech

How I Stay Productive While Managing Multiple Projects as a Program Manager at Amazon Juggling multiple projects isn’t about doing more—it’s about structuring work better. Early in my career, I tried to multitask across projects, only to feel overwhelmed and scattered. Then I saw how a senior leader structured their workload to maximize focus without burnout. That changed my approach. Here’s how I stay productive while managing multiple projects: 1️⃣ Time Blocking for Each Project I dedicate specific blocks of time to each project instead of jumping between them. This practice has cut context-switching fatigue by 50%. 2️⃣ Weekly Prioritization Reviews I reassess priorities every Monday to ensure I’m focusing on what matters most. This has prevented misalignment and last-minute rushes. 3️⃣ Delegate and Automate Where Possible I offload repeatable tasks and use automation for reporting. This approach has freed up time for high-impact work. Managing multiple projects isn’t about working harder—it’s about structuring work smarter. If you feel overwhelmed, try focusing less on doing everything at once and more on focused execution. How do you manage multiple projects effectively? #Productivity #ProjectManagement #Leadership #Amazon

Are you navigating a Traffic Jam when it comes to prioritizing your marketing tasks? Whether you manage a team or are one of the members on a team, everyone in marketing knows things can move fast, and requests can come at any random time. Prioritizing can be difficult. You want to be helpful and say “yes” because you know you have the capabilities to help people, but it’s not always possible. Here is a system I use in order to manage the chaos of marketing project management: 1. Establish a Clear Intake Process: Implement a standardized request form for all departments. This ensures that every request is logged, detailed, and trackable. This is very popular with developers, it never made sense to me why all teams wouldn’t use this same process. 2. Prioritize Based on Impact and Urgency: Adopt a scoring system to assess each task’s impact on business goals and its urgency. High-impact, high-urgency tasks take the lead. Low-Impact, low-urgency tasks hit the back burner. Make it easy for other departments to see the transparency in this scoring. The mutually agreed upon system de-prioritized this task, not a person. 3. Communicate Transparently: Keep an open line of communication with all departments. Regular updates on task statuses prevent frustration and set realistic expectations. This should happen in ongoing meetings with different departments so you share what you’re working on. 4. Review and Adjust Regularly: Hold weekly review meetings with your team to assess the progress, re-prioritize if necessary, and plan for upcoming tasks. Get into the details of what the blockers are and ways to get around them. 5. Empower Your Team (to say no): Allow team members to have the ability to tell people it’s not a yes or a no - it’s a maybe. You need to put each task into the system you created and it will be prioritized accordingly. Sometimes that means “no - this task will not get done this week by our internal marketing team”, but you’re going to have a great system and explanation for why that is. Hard to argue against that level of transparency and proficiency. Remember, a systematic approach to task prioritization not only enhances efficiency but also keeps your team focused, motivated, and empowered. I’ve worked in both teams: - In one team I felt protected. My time was important. My time was guarded and practically guaranteed to be productive. - In another team I felt chaos. Every day was scattered. Rarely feeling a sense of accomplishment for all the work I was achieving. Obviously one was better than the other. 💡 How do you manage cross-departmental task overload in your team? Would love to hear others tips for success here - Share your strategies! #MarketingManagement #teamwork #efficiency #projectmanagement