Set priorities from your future goals, not current problems

Executive overview

Most teams set priorities based on the problems in front of them — but those problems are rooted in the past. The best priorities come from working backwards from a clearly imagined future.

Start with a 10-year vision, then define 3–5 annual initiatives that connect to it, then identify quarterly priorities from there.

Priorities chosen from your desired future will always outperform priorities chosen from your current pain.

The cascade from future to now

• Start with a 10-year BHAG — big hairy audacious goal
• Define what you'll need to have achieved in people, strategy, customers, and product to get there
• Choose 3–5 annual initiatives that connect directly to that long-term vision
• Derive quarterly priorities from those annual outcomes
• Daily focus follows naturally from the quarterly priorities

What to stop doing

• Don't treat every current issue, competitive pressure, or customer request as a priority
• Problems that have persisted longest are often candidates to close, cut, or disinvest
• Tackling present-tense pain without a future lens wastes capacity on the wrong things