James Wilding's Weblog

Triage is a medical practise in which doctors determine the priority of patient treatment based on the severity of the patient’s injuries or illness. It’s commonly (but not solely) used in emergencies, when there’s a sudden unexpected demand on medical resources. People with life-threatening injuries get treated first, those with serious but non-life-threatening injuries are second priority, and the “walking-wounded” — with minor scratches, broken bones, etc — come last.

It’s not great if you have a sprained wrist and have to wait three hours to be treated, but it works!

I’ve always thought that triage is a great way to approach unexpected or excessive demands on your time during work. There are two ways this can happen:

1. The work emergency: when something suddenly goes wrong, and you have to decide what to fix first (and how to keep on top of ordinary work).
2. The demanding client: who drops a mass of unplanned work in your lap, and asks for it to be done yesterday.

(Of course you can often say “no” to the demanding client, but that’s not always an option.)

How To Triage Your Todo List

I normally triage my work in the opposite order to doctors: I do the easy stuff first, and leave the complex work for later. This gives my subconscious time to work on the more demanding work while the rest of me takes care of the simple stuff. I often take this approach even if the complex work is more urgent: by giving myself time to think, I’m better prepared when I come to the tough stuff, and can complete work just in time for deadlines.

You can see how this helps with productivity. By triaging demands on my time, I’m effectively helping myself do twice as much work: 1) I do the simple stuff, and 2) while I’m doing the simple stuff I simultaneously think through and plan the complex work.

Questions To Ask Yourself

Here are some questions I’ve found help me when prioritising my work:

• When does this work actually need to be done by?
• Am I doing this now because it needs to be done now, or because someone told me it’s important?
• Is the work really so important that it can’t wait?
• Am I working on something out of panic rather than planning?
• What are the consequences if I don’t get this work done today?
• Can I live with the consequences if this work doesn’t get done today? (usual answer: yes!)
• Who’s dictating deadlines: me or the client? (clue: it should be you)
• Do I need to take a break?

Some deadlines are life-threatening and need to be dealt with immediately, but most are far more flexible than everyone thinks. Take a deep breath and let yourself see what’s really important, then you’ll get more done.