It is possible for a project to have multiple priorities, but it is important to make sure that these are included in the scope of the project. It is also important to remember that widening the scope of the project to include more activities increases how much needs to get done and makes your project more vulnerable to delays.

What would be some examples of projects with multiple priorities?

Depending on the project, I think that it is possible to focus on more than one priority. It would be important to rank each priority of the project - low, medium, high so that the highest priority priorities are given the most attention. These high priority items are the ones that will likely have the biggest impact if the project is successful or isn't successful. There are likely several factors that come into play when considering how many priorities a project can have including whether the amount of time available for the project and the time added by each priority, budget of the project, and the resources available for the project.

Priorities and the scope of a project need to be managed like any other aspect. I think in the case of most projects the priorities differ between the upper and middle management and the research individuals and also the production team. With all the different stakeholders weighing priorities, and some having more say as to which priorities are focused on, it is important to manage these so that the scope of the project does not suffer in any way.

Yes, I believe most projects have multiple priorities. At Sloan when we have medical device project in our group we usually break it down into I. Development-Scientific II. Development-Business III. Intellectual Property (IP) Protection and Prosecution. Development and IP are both done in parallel and are broken down into different priorities high-low. I agree with cs22 that depending on the company and project the different stakeholders could influence and direct what are considered high priorities.

Yeah I actually believe that it is almost impossible for a project to focus on just one priority at a time. A project has so many moving parts that focusing one priority would severely slow down the company. A project is most likely be ran by multiple employees and one idea is to split the priorities in between the employees. By assigning a priority to each employee it allows multiple priorities to be handled without splitting the individual employees focus too much.

I completely agree with William. Within a single project, there are multiple parts/priorities, hence the multiple members of the team. Giving each team member a priority allows the project to move smoothly and more efficiently. Focusing on one priority at a time would ultimately delay the project's progression.

A project can definitely have more than one priority. However, in these projects, it is best to determine the order of those priorities (which one is more important and such) so that proper allocation of resources can be done at the same time. When deadlines come and time is short, there may be several priorities, however that which is most critical should be delivered first. This has been the case when on a project with team members from different plant locations: we had conveyed certain products in the manufacturing schedule to all be priority. They pushed back and wanted to know the order of priorities before starting work so that the things needed first would be done first. So even though several items were priority items, a plan to manage the order of those priorities had to be made.

It is possible that a single project can focus on more than one priority. Prioritizing project gives the team an easy to follow plan for the work that needs to be done while also setting clear expectations for the organization. Prioritizing project based on how urgent important it is. Checking out if there is any hard deadline that can’t be missed. Scheduling time to continue progress on projects that doesn’t has an immediate deadline but still its important. The projects require quick attention but is not important. Blocking time will force to carve out time for a particular reason during the day and sticking to it. It will help to concentrate to do one task at one time. Reviewing the workload regularly like the project schedule, reviewing critical tasks. Keeping a track on the progress is important as it will tell how much time is spent on an activity.

I believe that priorities can be more then one. As we studied in the pert chart that tasks are interdependent on each other then you have to complete both the task with same priority in order to accomplish the project on time. Priorities greatly depends on time while time matters when it comes to dependency of the tasks the priorities become similarly important for all those tasks that are interdependent.

When identifying project priorities it is important to keep in mind some guidelines that can help balance these priorities within the project scope. Before funding a product design project, priorities must be studied, particularly in the case of medical devices. One approach to work with multiple priorities is to rank them (e.g. 1-low, 2-medium, 3-high), so that the priorities with higher rank are given given the most attention. The higher rank priorities are the ones that will influence the project the most and have the biggest impact on the outcome of the project. There are several factors that must be considered when studying priorities for a project including but not limited to risk, time, cost, resources, etc.

Projects generally have multiple tasks going on at one time. With this being said it would definitely be possible for the project to have multiple priorities going on at one time. There will be tasks that have a greater priority than others, of course. However, it is crucial to determine which tasks are more important, and which will take longer. This is crucial so that project can be completed on time. Otherwise, deadlines may be missed, and money could be lost. Another point I would like to make in response to your question would be that the amount of possible priorities is most likely dependent upon the amount of team members in the group. If it is a small group than the project's priorities will probably be completed more linearly, as in one after the other. If it is a larger group than multiple priorities can be focused on as there exists more helpful hands to complete different tasks.

I believe most projects have more than one priority to focus on. Priorities can change as you progress through each stage of design control and project management. These priorities can include planning the specification, performing successful clinical trials, and choosing the best vendor. The focus should be on the critical path, responsible for determining the finish date. The tasks involved in that path need to be carefully executed in a timely manner to minimize delays. While it is ideal to produce a good quality product cheaply and quickly, it is difficult to accomplish. Depending on the project and stakeholders' demands, you might need to prioritize the quality of the product and the low costs over a sooner finish date. If the selected finish date can't be adjusted, the company may need to increase their budget and funding or jeopardize quality.

I agree with most ideas brought up by my colleagues regarding the qualities a manager should possess. In addition, I would like to add that an excellent manager is someone whose radiating enthusiasm is felt by the employees in the company. If I were to draw an analogy, I would say that having a manager who is truly enthusiastic and passionate about work, is like having a parent who is enthusiastic about his/her children's success. One can imagine that if a parent has lost hope, and interest in his/her kids future and how motivated they are about doing the best they can, these kids would probably be reluctant to simply try harder in life. Similarly, the personality, the charisma, and the tone a manager sets in a work environment can make or break the spirits of the manger's employees. That's why, as we have repeatedly discussed in this class, the interpersonal communication skills of a good team leader, are very important. I firmly believe that words have a big impact on the employees, and if proficiently articulated by a manager, the performance of the employees would correspondingly alter.

A project is full of different priorities. I believe that one should prioritize tasks on the critical path in order to not delay the project as a whole. This way you'll finish the project on time and the client will be happy with the results.