Task Priority and Urgency

Difficulty: Beginner

Overview

Not all tasks are created equal. Some require immediate attention, while others can wait. Effective priority management helps you and your team focus on what matters most, avoid burnout, and deliver value consistently.

Waymaker taskboards provide a flexible priority system that helps you categorize tasks by importance and urgency, prevent priority inflation (where "everything is urgent"), and maintain a healthy workflow. This guide teaches you how to use priorities effectively, apply proven frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix, and build sustainable prioritization habits.

What You'll Learn

• How to set and update task priority levels
• The difference between urgency and importance
• How to apply the Eisenhower Matrix to task management
• Strategies to prevent "everything is urgent" culture
• Daily and weekly prioritization workflows
• How to filter and sort by priority
• Visual priority indicators and color coding
• Priority-based workflow best practices

Prerequisites

• A Waymaker account with access to taskboards
• An existing taskboard with tasks (or create one following Creating Your First Taskboard)
• Understanding of basic task management (see Basic Task Management)
• Editor or Admin permissions on the taskboard (to set priorities)

Understanding Priority Levels

Waymaker taskboards offer four standard priority levels to categorize your tasks. These levels help signal the relative importance and time-sensitivity of work.

Priority Levels Explained

1. Low Priority 🟢

• Use for: Nice-to-have improvements, future enhancements, low-impact tasks
• Timeline: Complete when capacity allows, no specific deadline
• Examples: "Update documentation formatting", "Explore new feature ideas", "Refactor non-critical code"

2. Medium Priority 🟡 (Default)

• Use for: Standard work, planned deliverables, routine tasks
• Timeline: Complete within normal workflow, scheduled deadline
• Examples: "Implement user profile page", "Write Q3 performance review", "Design landing page mockup"

3. High Priority 🟠

• Use for: Important work with near-term deadlines, key deliverables
• Timeline: Complete soon (within days), clear deadline
• Examples: "Fix critical bug affecting users", "Complete client presentation by Friday", "Finalize product launch plan"

4. Urgent Priority 🔴

• Use for: Critical blockers, emergencies, time-sensitive crises
• Timeline: Complete immediately (within hours), highest priority
• Examples: "Production server down", "Security vulnerability discovered", "CEO needs slide deck in 2 hours"

Default Priority Behavior

When creating a new task:

• Default priority: Medium 🟡
• Tasks without explicit priority are treated as Medium
• You can change the default priority in board settings

Setting Task Priority

During Task Creation

Quick Add (from Kanban view):

1. Click "+ Add Task" in any section
2. Type task name and press Enter
3. Task is created with Medium priority (default)
4. Click the task card to open details and adjust priority

Full Task Modal:

1. Click "+ Add Task" or "Add Task (Full Details)"
2. Enter task name and description
3. Locate the "Priority" dropdown
4. Select priority level: Low, Medium, High, or Urgent
5. Click "Create Task"

After Task Creation

From Task Card (Quick Edit):

1. Hover over the task card in Kanban view
2. Look for the priority indicator (colored dot or label)
3. Click the priority indicator
4. Select new priority from dropdown
5. Priority updates immediately

From Task Details Modal:

1. Click any task to open the task details modal
2. Find the "Priority" field in the right sidebar
3. Click the priority dropdown
4. Select new priority level
5. Priority saves automatically

Bulk Priority Changes:

• Select multiple tasks (Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click)
• Click "Bulk Edit" in the toolbar
• Change priority for all selected tasks at once
• See Bulk Task Operations for details

Urgency vs. Importance: The Eisenhower Matrix

One of the most powerful prioritization frameworks is the Eisenhower Matrix, which separates tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance.

The Four Quadrants

                    URGENT              NOT URGENT
               ┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
   IMPORTANT   │   Quadrant 1    │   Quadrant 2    │
               │   DO FIRST      │   SCHEDULE      │
               │   (Urgent)      │   (High)        │
               ├─────────────────┼─────────────────┤
NOT IMPORTANT  │   Quadrant 3    │   Quadrant 4    │
               │   DELEGATE      │   ELIMINATE     │
               │   (Medium/Low)  │   (Low)         │
               └─────────────────┴─────────────────┘

Quadrant 1: Urgent & Important (DO FIRST) 🔴

Priority Level: Urgent Action: Drop everything and do this now

Examples:

• Production system outage
• Critical security vulnerability
• Client emergency request
• Deadline today for major deliverable

Warning: If you live in Quadrant 1, you're in constant firefighting mode. The goal is to minimize time here.

Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important (SCHEDULE) 🟠

Priority Level: High Action: Schedule dedicated time for this

Examples:

• Strategic planning
• Professional development
• Relationship building
• Proactive problem prevention
• Long-term project work

Goal: Spend MOST of your time here. Quadrant 2 work prevents Quadrant 1 crises.

Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important (DELEGATE) 🟡

Priority Level: Medium or Low Action: Delegate if possible, or batch process

Examples:

• Many emails and interruptions
• Some meetings
• Other people's priorities
• Low-value requests that feel urgent

Warning: These tasks feel urgent but don't move the needle. Be selective.

Quadrant 4: Not Urgent & Not Important (ELIMINATE) 🟢

Priority Level: Low (or delete) Action: Minimize or eliminate entirely

Examples:

• Busy work
• Procrastination activities
• Time wasters
• Tasks that no longer matter

Goal: Minimize time here. Delete or defer these tasks.

Applying the Matrix to Your Tasks

Step 1: Ask Two Questions

1. Is this task urgent? (Deadline in next 24-48 hours? Blocking someone?)
2. Is this task important? (Meaningful impact on goals? Strategic value?)

Step 2: Map to Priority Level

• Urgent + Important → Urgent priority 🔴
• Important (not urgent) → High priority 🟠
• Urgent (not important) → Medium or Low priority 🟡🟢
• Neither → Low priority or delete 🟢

Step 3: Schedule Accordingly

• Urgent: Do today
• High: Schedule this week
• Medium: Schedule this month
• Low: Backlog or delete

Preventing Priority Inflation

Priority inflation occurs when too many tasks are marked as "Urgent" or "High", rendering the priority system meaningless. If everything is urgent, nothing is.

Common Causes of Priority Inflation

1. Requester Inflation

• Stakeholders mark everything as urgent to get attention
• No objective criteria for priority

2. Fear-Based Prioritization

• "What if we don't do this NOW?"
• Anxiety drives urgency, not actual importance

3. Lack of Priority Governance

• No clear rules for who sets priority
• No review process

4. Broken Feedback Loops

• High-priority tasks that aren't truly urgent get completed anyway
• Reinforces inflation ("marking it urgent works")

Solutions: Preventing Inflation

1. Establish Clear Priority Criteria

Create a written definition for each level:

Urgent Criteria (must meet ALL):

• Blocks production or customers
• Deadline within 24-48 hours
• Executive-level request
• Financial or legal consequences

High Criteria (must meet at least 2):

• Core business objective
• Deadline within 1 week
• Blocks another team
• Strategic initiative

2. Implement Priority Review

• Weekly priority audit by team lead
• Downgrade tasks that don't meet criteria
• Track inflation metrics

3. Use "Urgent" Sparingly Target: ≤5% of all tasks should be Urgent

• If more than 10% are Urgent, you have priority inflation
• Review and downgrade liberally

4. Set WIP Limits on Urgent Tasks

• Maximum 3 urgent tasks in progress at once
• Forces hard choices about what's truly urgent

5. Educate Stakeholders

• Share priority definitions
• Explain the cost of false urgency (context switching, burnout)
• Celebrate accurate priority setting

Priority-Based Workflows

Daily Prioritization Workflow

Every morning, spend 10 minutes:

Step 1: Review Urgent Tasks 🔴

• Check all urgent tasks
• Verify they're truly urgent (downgrade if not)
• Plan your day around these first

Step 2: Schedule 2-3 High-Priority Tasks 🟠

• Block time for Quadrant 2 work
• These are your "big rocks" for the day
• Protect this time from interruptions

Step 3: Batch Medium-Priority Tasks 🟡

• Group similar tasks together
• Schedule specific time blocks
• Don't let these interrupt urgent/high work

Step 4: Defer Low-Priority Tasks 🟢

• Move to Friday afternoon time block
• Or defer to next week
• Don't feel guilty about deferring these

Weekly Prioritization Workflow

Every Monday (or Friday for next week):

Step 1: Review Completed Tasks

• Archive or mark done
• Celebrate progress

Step 2: Audit All Priorities

• Review urgent tasks (should be 5% or less)
• Check if high-priority tasks align with goals
• Downgrade anything that lost urgency

Step 3: Promote Important Tasks

• Move Quadrant 2 tasks from Medium → High
• Ensure at least 60% of effort goes to Quadrant 2

Step 4: Prune Low-Priority Tasks

• Delete tasks >30 days old with no progress
• Defer non-essential tasks to backlog

Step 5: Set Weekly Goals

• 3-5 high-priority deliverables for the week
• Share with team for alignment

Filtering and Sorting by Priority

Using Priority Filters

Filter Panel:

1. Open the task filter panel (sidebar or top bar)
2. Locate "Priority" filter
3. Select one or more priorities to view
4. Only tasks matching selected priorities appear

Filter by Single Priority:

• Select "Urgent" to see only 🔴 urgent tasks
• Select "High" to see only 🟠 high-priority tasks

Filter by Multiple Priorities:

• Select "Urgent" + "High" to see critical work
• Useful for focus time

Clear Priority Filter:

• Click "Clear" or deselect all priorities
• All tasks reappear

Sorting by Priority

In List View:

1. Switch to List View
2. Click the "Priority" column header
3. Tasks sort by priority (Urgent → High → Medium → Low)
4. Click again to reverse order

In Kanban View:

• Kanban view doesn't sort vertically by default
• Use swimlanes (by priority) to group cards by priority level
• Or filter to show only selected priorities

Saved Priority Views

Create a "My Urgent Work" View:

1. Filter: Assignee = Me + Priority = Urgent
2. Click "Save Filter"
3. Name it "My Urgent Work"
4. Access from saved filters dropdown

Common Saved Views:

• "Critical Work" → Urgent + High
• "This Week" → High + Medium, Due Date = This Week
• "Quick Wins" → Low + Effort ≤ 1 hour

Visual Priority Indicators

Waymaker uses visual cues to make priority immediately recognizable:

Color Coding

Priority Colors:

• Urgent: Red 🔴 (#EF4444)
• High: Orange 🟠 (#F97316)
• Medium: Yellow 🟡 (#F59E0B)
• Low: Green 🟢 (#10B981)

Where Colors Appear:

• Task cards (left border or priority badge)
• List view (priority column icon)
• Task details modal (priority dropdown)
• Gantt chart (task bars can be colored by priority)

Priority Badge

Some views display a priority badge on task cards:

• Text label: "Urgent", "High", "Medium", "Low"
• Colored dot: Small circle in task card corner
• Icon + Color: Exclamation mark or priority icon with color

You can customize display in Board Settings → Display Options → Priority Indicators.

Priority Best Practices

✅ DO

1. Use Priorities Consistently

• Review and update priorities regularly
• Follow team priority definitions
• Don't skip setting priority

2. Focus on High-Priority Work

• Schedule dedicated time for Quadrant 2 work
• Protect high-priority time from interruptions
• Complete high-priority tasks before starting new medium work

3. Challenge Urgent Requests

• Ask: "What happens if this waits 24 hours?"
• Verify urgency before accepting
• Educate requesters on priority criteria

4. Balance Priority Levels

• Target distribution: 5% Urgent, 25% High, 50% Medium, 20% Low
• If distribution is off, audit and adjust

5. Review and Adjust Weekly

• Priorities change as deadlines approach
• Downgrade tasks that lose urgency
• Promote tasks that become more important

❌ DON'T

1. Don't Mark Everything Urgent

• Urgent should be ≤5% of tasks
• Overuse destroys the signal

2. Don't Ignore Low-Priority Tasks Forever

• Review low-priority backlog monthly
• Delete tasks >90 days old with no action
• Either do it, defer it, or delete it

3. Don't Let Others Set Your Priorities

• You own your task priorities
• Pushback on false urgency
• Negotiate based on criteria

4. Don't Confuse Activity with Progress

• Busy ≠ productive
• Medium-priority busywork can feel good but doesn't move the needle
• Focus on high-priority strategic work

5. Don't Work on Low Priority When High Priority Exists

• Easy tasks feel good (quick wins)
• But don't do easy low-priority tasks before hard high-priority ones
• Do the hard thing first

Troubleshooting

"Too many tasks are marked urgent"

Possible causes:

• Priority inflation from stakeholders
• No clear priority criteria
• Fear-based prioritization

Solution:

1. Audit all urgent tasks with team lead
2. Apply strict urgency criteria
3. Downgrade anything that doesn't meet ALL criteria
4. Set WIP limit: max 3 urgent tasks at once

"I don't know how to prioritize"

Possible causes:

• Unclear goals or strategy
• Everything feels important
• No framework for decision-making

Solution:

1. Use the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent vs important)
2. Align tasks with quarterly goals
3. Ask: "What happens if I don't do this?"
4. Seek guidance from manager or team lead

"Priorities keep changing"

Possible causes:

• External changes (customer requests, market shifts)
• Poor planning
• Lack of commitment to decisions

Solution:

1. Accept some change is normal
2. Implement weekly priority review process
3. Communicate priority changes to affected team members
4. Track reasons for changes to identify patterns

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Mistake 1: Setting priority based on who asked

Problem: Marking tasks urgent because an executive or loud stakeholder requested it

Solution: Use objective criteria. Ask clarifying questions:

• "When does this need to be done by?"
• "What's the impact if we deliver next week instead?"
• "What does this block?"

If the task doesn't meet urgent criteria, set it as High and schedule appropriately.

❌ Mistake 2: Never updating priorities

Problem: Setting priority once during creation and never revisiting

Solution: Priorities change as deadlines approach and context shifts:

• Review all high/urgent tasks weekly
• Downgrade tasks that lost urgency
• Promote tasks approaching deadlines

❌ Mistake 3: Priority by task type instead of impact

Problem: "All bugs are urgent" or "All features are high priority"

Solution: Prioritize by impact, not type:

• Some bugs are cosmetic (Low)
• Some features are strategic (Urgent if blocking launch)
• Evaluate each task individually

❌ Mistake 4: Ignoring the important but not urgent

Problem: Only working on Quadrant 1 (urgent) and Quadrant 3 (other people's urgencies)

Solution: Block time for Quadrant 2 work (strategic, important, not urgent):

• Schedule 2 hours daily for uninterrupted Quadrant 2 work
• Protect this time aggressively
• This work prevents future crises

Quick Reference

Setting Priority:

• Click task → Priority dropdown → Select level

Priority Levels:

• 🔴 Urgent: Do immediately (≤5% of tasks)
• 🟠 High: Important work (20-30% of tasks)
• 🟡 Medium: Standard work (40-50% of tasks)
• 🟢 Low: Nice-to-have (20-30% of tasks)

Eisenhower Matrix:

• Urgent + Important → 🔴 Urgent (DO FIRST)
• Important, not urgent → 🟠 High (SCHEDULE)
• Urgent, not important → 🟡 Medium (DELEGATE)
• Neither → 🟢 Low (ELIMINATE)

Daily Workflow:

1. Do urgent tasks first (🔴)
2. Schedule 2-3 high-priority tasks (🟠)
3. Batch medium-priority tasks (🟡)
4. Defer low-priority tasks (🟢)

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Related Articles

• Basic Task Management - Task creation and lifecycle
• Task Details and Metadata - All task properties
• Filtering and Search - Find tasks by priority
• List View - Sort by priority
• Layer Best Practices - Strategic organization

Next Steps

You now know how to use priorities to focus on what matters most! Ready to continue?

1. Task Comments and Activity Feed - Collaborate on tasks with comments and @mentions
2. Task Attachments and Files - Attach documents and images to tasks
3. Bulk Task Operations - Edit multiple tasks at once

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Ready for next topic? → Task Comments and Activity Feed