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You are right that urgency is related to value (same as important), but also to time. One way to look at it is that urgent things are those whose value is soon

You are right that urgency is related to value (same as important), but also to time. One way to look at it is that urgent things are those whose value is soon going to be accelerating quite a lot (even infinitely), either up or down. Important things are things whose value is high, irrespective of rate of change. Example: Fix the hole now or the boat sinks: urgent (currently you have a boat that is completely functional: that's going to change). Arrive to the intended port and not a wrong one: important (if you make a mistake, you may need to spend several days travelling back. Sure, the longer you keep navigating in a wrong direction the more fuel and time you lose, but it is not super-urgent).

bryanrasmussen 3y ago
ok this seems the most sensible - from a project management / IT viewpoint - expression of the issue. I was going to say I still don't think I would find a x,y graph with x being urgency and y being importance useful for determining what I would work on but now I can theoreticaly see it, urgent issues that are more important get worked on sooner than urgent issues that are less important. I do think however if someone told me that, as others having suggested here, winning a contest was urgent but 0 on importance than I would say it was also 0 on urgency. All that said I think the graph would be not especially useful in practice, because in working on things we know the kind of urgency that determines what gets worked on and it almost forces us to prioritize issues higher. Logins not working, people can't complete purchase, GDPR fines coming next week unless we fix. Stuff that is urgent in almost every meaningful IT scenario is also, at the time, the most important.
- toast0 3y ago
  To me, urgency means the time to do it is now/soon. And importance means we should do it. Urgency and importance both affect prioritization. Something that is urgent and important should usually be done first. Something urgent and not important needs to be done soon or not at all --- and both are valid choices. Something important and not urgent is likely to be delayed, at least until it is urgent. Something neither important nor urgent may be delayed or dropped --- again, both are valid choices.
  - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
    I guess I understand it in theory but I guess I am also just a different person - if something is urgent but not at all important it will always be dropped. To me that would be the only valid choice.
    - toast0 3y ago
      Sure, but what if it's urgent but only a little important.
      - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
        I can't help but think that anything that is urgent but only a little important is in fact really important, because things that are a little important need to be done, and the urgent thing must be done now. Urgent and a little important must be done now. Urgent and unimportant must be dropped and it is a waste of time in endless meetings to even discuss it.

bryanrasmussen 3y ago

ok this seems the most sensible - from a project management / IT viewpoint - expression of the issue. I was going to say I still don't think I would find a x,y graph with x being urgency and y being importance useful for determining what I would work on but now I can theoreticaly see it, urgent issues that are more important get worked on sooner than urgent issues that are less important. I do think however if someone told me that, as others having suggested here, winning a contest was urgent but 0 on importance than I would say it was also 0 on urgency. All that said I think the graph would be not especially useful in practice, because in working on things we know the kind of urgency that determines what gets worked on and it almost forces us to prioritize issues higher. Logins not working, people can't complete purchase, GDPR fines coming next week unless we fix. Stuff that is urgent in almost every meaningful IT scenario is also, at the time, the most important.

toast0 3y ago
To me, urgency means the time to do it is now/soon. And importance means we should do it. Urgency and importance both affect prioritization. Something that is urgent and important should usually be done first. Something urgent and not important needs to be done soon or not at all --- and both are valid choices. Something important and not urgent is likely to be delayed, at least until it is urgent. Something neither important nor urgent may be delayed or dropped --- again, both are valid choices.
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago
  I guess I understand it in theory but I guess I am also just a different person - if something is urgent but not at all important it will always be dropped. To me that would be the only valid choice.
  - toast0 3y ago
    Sure, but what if it's urgent but only a little important.
    - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
      I can't help but think that anything that is urgent but only a little important is in fact really important, because things that are a little important need to be done, and the urgent thing must be done now. Urgent and a little important must be done now. Urgent and unimportant must be dropped and it is a waste of time in endless meetings to even discuss it.