I absolutely insist that my projects be given a priority order, and I do my work strictly in that order unless I’m told specifically that priorities have changed.
Not only do I do better work that way, but my boss comes out looking better too.
I have always decorated my office or cubicle with a sign that reads:
- Done quickly.
- Done correctly.
- Done cheaply.
Pick any two.
And I have been known to point at it when bosses give me unreasonable guidelines or pile projects over my head. It works.
And if you look closely, an “eat me”.
You know, it seems like the opposite answer would be better, but it’s not. I finished with a project a couple of weeks ago where I had eight tasks with several steps each (I counted and the total was 70 steps) and we begged to know which of the eight basic things we were to prioritize. The answer was a shrug.
We decided that it was a psychological experiment to torment people with ADD, given the best way to combat focus problems is to prioritize tasks and we weren’t allowed to do so logically. It quickly became everyone’s new least favorite contract.