How are you balancing long-term strategy with constant ‘urgent’ requests from leadership right now? What’s actually working for you?

Hey Anthony. We have a fairly formal process for developing our longer-term strategies and getting commitment to those from leadership. We review those quarterly with the CIO. So, my peers and I have a pretty good way to have conversations on the more strategic efforts and those can typically get the priority needed. On the urgent request, some of that is just the nature of our jobs - you're going to have those but they shouldn't be constant :). We drive most of our work into our Agile teams where PMs and team leads work to juggle priorities when needed. On pressing "requests" there's sometimes a bit of negotiation on taking it mid sprint or pushing it to the next. We try to stay in the mode as much as possible.

After a while people start getting the message and they will ask up front about working into the current or future Sprints.

There are three key strategies I use to balance long-term strategy with urgent requests from leadership.

(1) I prioritize my tasks based on upcoming meetings and requirements, using my calendar as a guide.
(2) I block 'work time' to avoid back-to-back meetings, which allows me to process information and focus on longer-term needs. (3) I move out non-urgent meetings, as individuals often fill available white space on my calendar with requests that can wait 1 to 2 weeks. I have found this to be effective in giving me the space I need to react to unplanned needs.

While everything feels important, we know not all tasks are urgent, so I intentionally hold some initiatives for future focus. When leadership labels something as urgent, I clarify what 'urgent' means in terms of turnaround time and expectations. If I need to adjust priorities, I communicate this to leadership, letting them know I can support their requests but also highlighting what will be put on hold. This approach helps me manage expectations and remain flexible while addressing immediate demands and progressing on long-term goals.