Every company will place differing levels of importance on prioritization factors, but most of the factors are the same.

Putting issues in order of importance is a balancing act. If you have 12 issues that are easy and would take ten minutes each and 1 issue that is significantly more important, do you fix the 12 easy issues and work on the hard one, or do you work on the hard one and fix the easier issues after? Fixing the 12 easier ones might minimize the interruptions you face when fixing the harder issue, making your time spent more efficient, but would that be the best for the company?

Important notes:

• If in doubt, check with your manager.
• Keep customers informed about the progress of their case.

Prioritization factors

Impact

How many users or systems are affected by the issue? Will it disrupt critical business operations or cause significant data loss? Is it impacting high-profile clients or generating negative publicity?

Issues with a wider impact need a higher priority than issues with less impact.

Service Level Agreement

Does the customer have a specific response time guarantee included in their contract? What are the consequences if those service levels are not met?

Breaching a contract can have monetary or legal consequences.

Communication

Some customers want an update every hour and others are content to wait longer. All customers need to be kept up to date on their cases.

Fixing the issues for the customers that require more frequent updates can reduce your overall interruptions.

Severity

How serious are the potential consequences of the situation? Is the issue costing the customer money?

High severity issues, even if they affect fewer customers, should be prioritized higher.

Estimated resolution time

How quickly can the issue be resolved based on its complexity and available resources? Can a temporary workaround be implemented while a permanent fix is developed?

If a temporary workaround can be put in place, this might reduce the prioritization.

Escalation potential

Is the issue likely to escalate further if not addressed promptly? Could it lead to angry customers, negative reviews, or compliance violations?

Issues with a high escalation potential need higher prioritization to prevent further problems.

Technical complexity

Does the issue require specialized knowledge or resources to resolve? Is it a known issue with existing solutions or a completely new problem?

Urgency

How quickly does the situation need to be addressed to avoid negative consequences?

For thought

How would you prioritize these issues?

(A) Customer requested that someone show him how to do something in the software. This requires scheduling a half hour call to demonstrate. Customer says this needs to happen in the next week.

(B) Customer has had frequent problems with your software recently. You are in risk of not meeting service level agreements, which would cost your company $10,000. The fix will take a full day to implement. This is something you can do.

(C) Customer discovered a problem with your software. An inconvenient, but usable, workaround has been put in place. The actual fix will take a full day to implement. The customer wants an update every hour during work hours. This is something you can do.

(D) Customer discovered if they do x, y, z, and then q, that they can access another customer's data. This fix is not something you can do.

The order I would work this is below.

• Email my manager the below list. Several of these things are important, and my manager might want to redirect priorities. Also, my manager could get a direct call from the customer, and my manager wouldn't want to be caught unaware. I would not wait for approval on this, because my manager is busy and getting some work done immediately would be good.
• Write up a thorough bug report for D and start the escalation procedure.
• Schedule the meeting with A for the end of the week.
• Email C indicating that I need to finish my current task, but will start C immediately after. Explain that you will probably start the next day, and if he needs it sooner, he can contact your manager.
• Take care of B. Contact B and demonstrate the fix.
• Take care of C. Contact C and demonstrate the change.
• Check progress on Escalation D.
• Contact B again and make sure everything is still going okay.
• Contact C again and make sure everything is going okay.
• Meet with A.