Put First Things First - 3rd Habit - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Agile Teams

The Power of Prioritization in Agile

In Agile teams, it often feels like everything is urgent—customer requests, bug fixes, stakeholder demands, technical debt, and sprint commitments.

❓ How do you decide what to work on first?

❓ Are you spending time on high-value work, or just staying busy?

❓ Are you moving toward the product vision, or just reacting to requests?

🚀 High-performing Agile teams don’t just work hard—they work on the right things.

Stephen Covey’s third habit, Put First Things First, is about focusing on high-impact activities rather than getting lost in the noise. In Agile, this means:

✅ Prioritizing tasks that deliver real value to customers and stakeholders.

✅ Avoiding time-wasters that don’t contribute to the product vision.

✅ Protecting the team from constant context-switching and distractions.

👉 Let’s explore how this habit can help Agile teams focus, prioritize, and deliver meaningful results.

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Why “Put First Things First” Matters in Agile

Agile is fast-paced—but speed without focus leads to chaos.

Teams that fail to prioritize properly often experience:

❌ Burnout – Developers get overwhelmed by urgent but low-value work.

❌ Scope creep – Teams say "yes" to everything, leading to missed deadlines.

❌ Inefficiency – Resources are wasted on tasks that don’t align with business goals.

❌ Low Quality - Often re-prioritization due to unclear vision and focus on the quality.

💡 Great Agile teams don’t try to do everything—they focus on what matters most.

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Common Pitfalls of Teams That Struggle with Prioritization

🔴 Everything is a priority (so nothing really is).

• Teams struggle to distinguish between urgent and important tasks.

• Sprint backlogs become cluttered with low-value stories.

🔴 Interruptions and distractions derail focus.

• Mid-sprint changes and unplanned requests take over.

• Developers constantly switch tasks, slowing down delivery.

🔴 No clear strategy for saying NO.

• The team feels pressured to accept every stakeholder request.

• “Gold-plating” happens—developers spend too much time perfecting minor features.

💡 A great Agile team is disciplined about what they work on—and what they don’t.

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How to Apply Habit 3: Put First Things First in Agile Teams

1️⃣ Use the Eisenhower Matrix (or any other method) to Prioritize Work

🔹 Not all tasks are equally important. Covey’s Eisenhower Matrix is a great tool to classify work:

💡 Great teams focus on high-value, high-impact work first—and don’t waste time on distractions.

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2️⃣ Align Sprint Backlogs with the Product Vision

🔹 Ask these questions before adding a task to the sprint:

✅ Does this task contribute to our product vision and business goals?

✅ Does it provide real value to users and customers?

✅ Is this the most important thing we could be working on right now?

🔹 If the answer is NO, reconsider its priority.

• Prioritize outcomes over outputs—delivering meaningful value over just completing tasks.

💡 An effective Agile team isn’t measured by how much they do, but by how much value they create.

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3️⃣ Limit Work in Progress (WIP) to Avoid Context Switching

🔹 Multitasking kills productivity—teams that juggle too many tasks take longer to complete them. Focus, focus, focus.

🔹 Set WIP limits in Kanban or Scrum:

• Focus on one or two major priorities per sprint rather than overloading the backlog.

• Encourage the team to finish tasks before starting new ones.

• Define what DONE means.

💡 Great teams don’t just start work—they finish it.

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4️⃣ Protect the Team from Scope Creep and Distractions

🔹 Establish clear boundaries for mid-sprint changes.

• If stakeholders request new work mid-sprint, negotiate trade-offs:

  “If we take on this urgent task, we’ll need to drop something else. Which is more important?”

🔹 Use Sprint Goals to stay focused.

• At the start of the sprint, define one or two key objectives.

• If new requests don’t align with those goals, push them to the next sprint.

💡 Great teams don’t get sidetracked—they stay focused on the most important work.

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5️⃣ Plan for Quadrant II Work (Long-Term, High-Impact Tasks)

🔹 Many teams ignore important but non-urgent work—like technical debt reduction, refactoring, or automation.

🔹 Schedule regular time for:

• Backlog grooming and product strategy discussions.

• Refactoring and reducing technical debt.

• Learning and professional development.

💡 Investing in long-term improvements ensures the team’s future success.

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Final Thoughts: Focus and Discipline Lead to Impact

🚀 Agile teams that Put First Things First deliver high-value work efficiently without burnout or distractions.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Prioritize important, high-value work over busywork.

✅ Limit Work in Progress (WIP) to stay focused.

✅ Use the product vision to filter and prioritize tasks.

✅ Say NO to low-impact work that doesn’t contribute to goals.

✅ Schedule time for long-term, strategic/technical improvements.

💡 Success in Agile isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter.

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(This post is highlits the Eisenhower matrix, but you could use any other frameworks to prioritize work e.g. MoSCoW, RICE, Cost of Delay, WSJF, ... )

How do you ensure that your teams Put First Things First? What happened if your teams didn't? Put your thoughts in the comments.

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Next Post: Habit 4 – Think Win-Win

📅 Coming up next in our series: How high-performing Agile teams balance stakeholder needs, business goals, and technical constraints to create mutually beneficial solutions.

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