EXECUTION

Who is the decision maker?

While collaboration is a great thing, at the end of the day you'll need that ONE person who can take in all of the information and make a decision if there is no consensus.

If there is more than 1 person contributing, can they do other work while the top priority is taken?

Use the trickle down effect. If there are 5 people working on this project, put them all on the top priority. If only 2 people are needed move the other 3 over to the next priority. If only one person is needed for that then move the remaining 2 people to the next...you know where I'm going with this.

If the 2 people that were working on the top priority are done, move them to the closest priority below them and see if they can help bring it over the finish line. If that's not possible, let them work their way down until they are picking up the next highest priority that isn't already taken.

Now that you have a set list of things to do, are you adding things in that disrupt the agreed upon order?

This can happen every now and then, but don't make it a habit. This is what we call "scope creep" in the biz. You have your set amount of work and then all of the sudden, someone thinks this other "thing" should be done as well. Now all of the sudden dates are moved (hopefully) because you have to include time to add this new thing thus pushing you away from your original release date.

You've completed some of the work, can you release that to the public now or do you have to wait for another thing to be completed first?

Hold on to it only if it makes sense, otherwise send it out the door and get it in front of people. It's better to release a little bit of something than a whole lot of nothing.

Are you over complicating the process?

Don't add exra steps that are not needed. In fact if there are steps that get in the way more than they help then eliminate them. Scenario: You literally have post-it notes on your desk, and between you and your team, they take a post-it note to work on that item and then move it to the fridge for completed work. IF YOU HAVE A SIMILAR PROCESS THAT WORKS, ALBEIT A LITTLE ODD, THEN GO WITH THAT!