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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhen project deadlines collide, prioritize by what can move the finish date, what must happen first, and which qualified people are available—not by due date alone. Check dependencies and durations, identify tasks with little or no slack, account for resource conflicts, then make any unavoidable scope, schedule, or staffing tradeoff explicit.
Why the nearest deadline is not always the first priority
A due date shows when a task is expected, but not whether delaying it will delay the project. Its predecessors, duration, resource availability, and any imposed milestone or delivery date all affect the schedule. The Project Management Institute describes these as core constraints on how quickly a project can be completed in its 2007 paper, “Four Ways Project Schedules Are Limited and What to Do About It.”
Use the plan to distinguish work that is genuinely time-sensitive from work that can move within available slack. Then check whether the team can actually perform the planned work in that order. A task may be urgent on paper yet unable to start until a predecessor finishes, or it may be competing for the same specialist as another task.
Use this method to decide what to do next
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Validate the schedule logic
Check that task durations are credible, required predecessors are recorded, deadlines and milestones are represented, and assigned people are available. Ask the people doing the work whether each dependency reflects a real handoff or constraint. Incorrect or unnecessary links can make a task appear blocked when it need not be.
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Find the critical path and available slack
The critical path is the sequence of tasks that determines the project’s finish date. Tasks on that path have no usable delay margin under the schedule’s assumptions; a slip can move the finish date. Tasks with slack have some room to move before they affect that date. Microsoft explains the concepts and ways to inspect the path in “Manage your project’s critical path.”
Give close attention to critical work, but do not assume the path is permanent. Microsoft notes that it can change as critical tasks are completed or another sequence is delayed. Recheck it after meaningful progress or a schedule change.
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Respect real dependencies, but challenge unnecessary ones
A finish-to-start link—the default task link in Microsoft Project—means a successor cannot begin until its predecessor is complete. Project also supports start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish links. Confirm that the chosen relationship matches the actual work rather than treating every listed predecessor as immovable. See Microsoft’s explanation of how Project schedules tasks and task links.
Some work can overlap if the work sequence allows it; other work cannot. PMI’s schedule guidance discusses checking whether a dependency is mandatory or merely desirable and using a different relationship, lead, or lag when it better reflects the plan. Do not overlap tasks just to make dates fit if doing so breaks a necessary handoff.
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Account for shared people and skills
Compare assignments across tasks, especially where a specialist is needed in more than one place. If assignments exceed a person’s availability, options may include reassigning work, adding a qualified resource, or leveling the workload. In Microsoft Project, leveling can delay or split tasks to resolve an overallocation; inspect the resulting dates and critical path afterward. Microsoft’s resource-allocation guidance describes this process.
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Compare feasible choices by their consequences
When more than one response is possible, compare what each does to the finish date, dependencies, people, slack, and delivery commitments. Ask whether the action shortens the current critical path or simply makes another path critical, whether qualified staff can take on the work, and what happens to scope, cost, or quality. Do not use a numeric priority score as if it were universally authoritative; the cited guidance supports weighing these factors, not one standard formula.
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Escalate a genuine conflict
If the critical work cannot meet all deadlines with the agreed scope and available resources, present the decision to the person or group empowered to change a commitment. State which date, scope, resource, cost, or quality expectation would need to move, and the consequences of each feasible option.
What to do when the plan cannot meet every deadline
Schedule compression is a choice among tradeoffs, not a guarantee that every commitment can remain fixed. Depending on the work, options can include shortening critical-task durations, overlapping eligible tasks (fast-tracking), adding people or overtime (crashing), reducing scope, revising constraints, or changing a date. Microsoft’s project triangle guidance explains that changes to schedule interact with budget, scope, and quality. Overlap can raise coordination or quality risk, while added resources can increase cost; assess the specific work before choosing.
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For conflicts spanning several projects, immediate urgency is not enough to decide who gets a scarce specialist. The project or portfolio leaders need to set relative priorities in light of strategy, urgency, and delivery criticality. The Project Management Institute’s guidance on project portfolio management and multiple projects notes that treating every project as the top priority leaves no basis for allocating constrained resources, and that priorities may need to change as business or technical conditions change.
Keep priorities current
Reassess when a task finishes, a delay occurs, a resource assignment changes, or a deadline or scope decision is made. Those events can change the critical path, the slack available elsewhere, and which resource conflict matters most. A priority list is useful only while it reflects the current plan and the decisions made by the people who own its commitments.
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