From the work of Disruption Dynamics.
Finish the website. Sharpen the positioning. Set up the tools. Sort out the processes.
These tasks can compete for an owner’s attention. Each may have a reason. That still leaves the question of which one deserves the next hour.
A good idea can still create work that a later decision forces you to do again.
DD Put Reasons Behind the Order
DD assessed the situation and developed an order of work. The assessment was handed over and discussed. The discussion changed a central assumption: the immediate issue was not attracting more demand, but handling the inquiries already arriving. That changes which work deserves attention first.
The useful part is the connection between tasks. Calling something a priority does not explain why it comes first. A decision, an agreed offer, or another piece of work may need to precede it.
The order has to show that dependency.
The Right Task Can Come Too Early
An illustrative example, not an event from this assignment: A website is being rebuilt while the offer it should explain is still undecided. Both tasks matter. But finishing the pages first may mean rewriting them after the offer is settled.
Clarify the offer, then shape the pages around it. The reason is practical: the second task needs the answer from the first.
Waiting becomes specific too. A task is not simply left for later. It waits for a decision or a condition.
Something to Test the Next Idea Against
DD’s assessment makes the priorities, assumptions, and dependencies open to examination. The review did what it was meant to do: it corrected the starting assumption before it became the next task.
When another idea arrives, there is a question to ask: has something changed that affects the order, or has another attractive possibility joined the list?
The assessment does not make other tasks unimportant. It explains what needs to be in place before starting them.
Everything can matter. It does not all have to happen next.
By Patrick Thole, Disruption Dynamics, Zürich
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