Tips for Managing Workday Backlog and Priorities

People don’t lose time. They waste it without noticing. A few years ago, I was drowning in busywork. My calendar looked full, but nothing meaningful was getting done. The shift happened when a mentor said: “You’re not overwhelmed. You’re operating without intention.” It stung. But it changed everything. I rebuilt how I worked, and my entire relationship with time transformed. Here are 8 simple steps that helped me finally take control of my attention: 1/ 2-Minute Rule. ↳ If it takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. Pro Tip: Set a 120-second phone timer to trigger instant action. 2/ Getting Things Done Method. ↳ Capture everything so your brain stops juggling unfinished loops. Pro Tip: Externalizing tasks lowers cognitive load and reduces stress. 3/ Eisenhower Matrix. ↳ Stop reacting. Start leading. Pro Tip: Prioritize based on impact, not who shouts the loudest. 4/ Task Batching. ↳ Group similar tasks to eliminate mental switching costs. Pro Tip: One batch for admin, one for creative, one for communication. 5/ Schedule It. ↳ If it’s not on your calendar, it’s not happening. Pro Tip: Treat your calendar like a contract with your future self. 6/ Plan Ahead. ↳ A few minutes of Sunday planning makes Monday feel lighter. Pro Tip: Keep it simple: 3 priorities, not a project plan. 7/ Pomodoro Technique. ↳ 25 minutes on, quick break, repeat. Pro Tip: Intervals prevent mental fatigue and keep you in flow. 8/ Monk Mode. ↳ Protect distraction-free windows so deep work can finally happen. Pro Tip: Communicate your focus blocks, it teaches your team to do the same. Mastering your time has nothing to do with squeezing more into your day. It’s about eliminating the noise so the meaningful work can rise. If you don’t own your time, someone else will. _________ ♻️ Share this with a leader who needs more focus and less chaos. 👋 Want a calmer mind and clearer days? Follow me (Dr. Chris Mullen) and get one actionable idea each week that helps you live with more intention: https://lnkd.in/gJTcghKK

Every task that comes to me is urgent and important. Sound familiar? This is a challenge many of us face daily. Early in my career, prioritization was relatively straightforward—my manager told me what to focus on. But as I grew, the game changed. Suddenly, I was managing a flood of requests, far more than I could handle, and the signals from others weren’t helpful. Everything was “important.” Everything was “urgent.” Often, it was both. To handle this effectively, I realized I needed to develop an internal prioritization compass. It wasn’t easy, but it was transformative. Here are 6 strategies to help you build your own: 1/ Be crystal clear on key goals Start by understanding your organization’s goals—at the company, department, and team levels. Attend organizational forums, departmental reviews, or leadership updates to stay informed. When in doubt, use your 1:1s with leaders to ask: What does success look like? 2/ Deeply understand KPIs Metrics guide decision-making, but not all metrics are equally valuable. Take the time to understand your team's or function's key performance indicators (KPIs). Know what they measure, what they mean, and how to assess their impact. 3/ Be assertive to protect priorities Not every task deserves your attention. Practice saying “no” or deferring requests that don’t align with key goals or metrics. Assertiveness is not about being inflexible—it’s about protecting your capacity to focus on what truly matters. 4/ Set and reset expectations Priorities change, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is working on misaligned tasks. Keep open communication with your manager and stakeholders about evolving priorities. When new demands arise, clarify and reset expectations. 5/ Use 1:1s to align with your manager Leverage your 1:1s as a strategic tool. Share your current priorities, validate them against your manager’s expectations, and discuss any conflicts or challenges. 6/ Clarify the escalation process When priorities conflict, don’t let disagreements linger. If you can’t agree quickly, escalate the issue to your manager. This avoids unnecessary churn, ensures trust remains intact, and keeps momentum focused on results. PS: You won’t always get it right—and that’s okay. Treat each misstep as an opportunity to refine your compass. What’s one tip you’ve used to prioritize when everything feels urgent? --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

⚠️ Time to Fix Workday 🛠️ “Are we using Workday to its fullest capabilities?” Haha, no. If I had a dollar 💰 for every time I’ve heard that, I’d be funding your backlog fixes myself. I’ve partnered with organizations that spent tens of thousands diagnosing their Workday issues, only to end up buried under backlogs of 200+ ‘critical’ items. Once the problems were identified, the next question was predictable: ‘Great, so can we fix it?’ 🚫 Cue the $1M estimate and a timeline of two years. ⏳ Here’s the reality: You don’t need a blank check 💸 to make Workday work harder. You need a better game plan. 1️⃣ Prioritize with Purpose 🧠 Backlogs don’t fix themselves. I’ve developed prioritization algorithms for teams to analyze factors like pay impact, employee experience, manual work, and compliance risks. Within 12 months, these teams saw their backlogs shrink by 80%. Focus on one priority at a time and watch your team’s capacity transform. 2️⃣ Create Space for Progress What’s the biggest drain on productivity? Meetings. 👩💻 Yep, I SAID IT. One team I worked with spent 15 hours a week in recurring meetings. By introducing no-meeting weeks during sprints, we gave the team uninterrupted focus time. Within a month, productivity jumped 20%, and their backlog began shrinking. ✨ High-performing tech teams don’t multitask their way to success. They protect their time. ✨ 3️⃣ Make Space for Strategic Priorities Progress starts with movement, not overanalysis. If I needed to roll out new features, this is what I'd do: 🥇 Show the value. Connect it to corporate goals such as employee experience. 📅 Build a Workday roadmap. Six to twelve months is enough to show results while staying flexible. 🌟 Track and celebrate wins. Use dashboards, sprint logs, or monthly progress reports to demonstrate value. For example, measure time saved, user adoption rates, or manual processes. 4️⃣ Maximize One Portion of Workday at a Time Fixing everything at once? That’s a surefire way to fix nothing. ❌ Here’s the method: Focus on one area—like compensation or absence plan compliance. Break it into smaller, achievable projects. When I worked with a team on their compensation module, we started by cleaning up job profiles to ensure accurate pay grades. Three months later, this simple fix eliminated 50% of compensation-related tickets. The ripple effect? Valuable time back to our teams. High-performing teams execute by focusing on the mile they’re in—not the entire marathon. 🏃♀️ 5️⃣ Encourage Ongoing Learning The best teams never stop learning. 💭 I encourage my team to dedicate at least 30 minutes a week exploring Workday Community. It’s not just about staying ahead of technology trends—it’s about lifting your head above water and seeing what’s possible. 🌎 Innovation starts with curiosity. How does your organization prioritize tech projects?

As CPO, I went where my calendar dictated. Then I’m sneaking glances at my email and Slack, and growing more stressed at more work accruing elsewhere. I was reactive. Each meeting spawned more follow-up meetings because I wasn't well prepared, or the right people were not present. To truly spend most of my time on my top priorities: 1️⃣ Make a top-down view of time spent that reflects your P0/P1’s. What initiatives, decisions, or strategies are they responsible for driving? 2️⃣ Divide your list into three sections: P0’s (only I can do), P1 (critical priorities that I cannot miss), and P2 (important to get done). 3️⃣ Assign a percentage of your time to each section: If your time spent reflects your priorities, this is what it should look like in aggregate. 4️⃣ Ruthlessly clean your next month of meetings. Delegate where you are not critical. Combine similar conversations. Shorten or reduce meeting frequency. Delete…and ask for forgiveness — because you’ll end up asking for it anyway on the day when you are triple-booked. Remember, if you are struggling with time management, the first step is not to open your calendar to ad hoc edit, but to map out your true priorities to set a strong foundation for your adjustments. 

I love getting things done 👩💻 About ten years ago, my sister Yael Garten gave me a book that changed my work life: Getting Things Done by David Allen. Written in 2001, it feels even more relevant today with the speed and noise we work in. Since then I have become the person who will happily declutter your home, to-do list, calendar, workflows, or your life. Give me a messy backlog and I light up. Here is the truth: for a decade I have not dropped a ball. It comes down to two things: 1. I choose which balls I catch and which one I’m happily dropping. 2. I use a system that keeps me focused and honest. Here are my top ten #GTD habits. Some come from the book and some are my own: ✅ 1. The two minute rule If it takes less than two minutes, do it now. Messages, scheduling, doc sharing, placing an order (hello Amazon one-click swipe to shop!). Start by timing two minutes to learn what fits. You will be shocked. ✅ 2. Weekly review Every Friday I reset. What is top priority? What needs a push? This makes Monday a running start. ✅ 3. The “waiting for” list I track everything I am waiting for in one place. Approvals, replies, reviews, decisions. I check it daily. At work I use Slack-bot reminders and email snooze. Nothing slips, even when the ball is in someone else's court. ✅ 4. Ask what problem you are solving I ask this before meetings, messages, features, and decisions. If I cannot answer it, I pause. It keeps work focused. ✅ 5. Match your reaction to the size of the problem I am paraphrasing something David Allen wrote: when you throw a rock into water, not every rock creates the same splash. Same with work- a low ROI internal task should not get the same energy as a user issue or a launch blocker. Calibrate your effort to the size of the problem. ✅ 6. Know your energy rhythm My deep work window is the afternoon. Mornings are best for speed tasks and quick wins. Know your rhythm and plan around it. ✅ 7. Inbox zero It's a cliché, but it works. That does not mean doing everything. It means defer, delegate, delete, or do. ✅ 8. Prioritize your backlog like a product roadmap Group work into clear buckets. Label priorities so anyone can understand what matters. Use your tools well. If you want to level up, build an AI agent that summarizes issues, de-dupes, and highlights what matters (I am working on one now!) ✅ 9. Don't be the bottleneck Share knowledge. Push context. Empower others to decide. Fast teams win because the leader is not in the way. ✅10. Close loops If you say you will do something, do it. It builds trust and strengthens relationships. It applies to launches, approvals, follow ups, and even answering your kid who suddenly wants to know why the sky is blue (that one was not an easy win!). I am genuinely curious to learn from all of you! 👇Which habits still challenge you? Let's brainstorm a solution together. 👇What practical tip should be on this list that I missed? Let’s turn this into a shared space to level-up together.

You don’t need more hours. You need better systems. Time isn’t the problem, attention is. These 6 time management strategies have helped me regain control, reduce burnout, and actually finish what matters. Here’s how to use them (plus how to start 👇): 1) Conduct a Time Audit Most people don’t need more time, they need more clarity on where it’s going. How to start: Track how you spend each hour for 2–3 days Group tasks into categories (work, admin, distraction, etc.) Spot time leaks and areas to optimize 2) Focus on One Thing at a Time Multitasking feels productive, but it lowers your output and increases errors. How to start: Choose one task and set a timer (e.g., 25 or 50 minutes) Turn off notifications and close unused tabs Don’t switch until the timer ends 3) Give Yourself a Reward Motivation increases when there’s a small win at the finish line. How to start: Set a reward tied to task completion (coffee break, walk, snack) Keep it small but satisfying Don’t skip the reward even for easy tasks 4) Use Apps to Block Distractions Your brain craves stimulation. Removing temptation boosts focus without willpower. How to start: Try apps like Freedom, Cold Turkey, or Forest Block distracting sites during work windows Set boundaries for phone use during deep work 5) Time Block Your Calendar What gets scheduled gets done. Time blocks turn intention into execution. How to start: Plan your day the night before Block 60–90 min chunks for deep work Include buffer time and breaks to avoid burnout 6) Set Clear Daily Priorities If everything is important, nothing is. Prioritization saves hours of indecision. How to start: Identify your top 1–3 priorities each morning Tackle them before checking email or messages Review your list at day’s end to track progress You don’t need to master all 6. Start with one. Build from there. ✨ Small shifts create major clarity.

You're doing it wrong if you let emails and meetings run your day. I learned this the hard way when I found myself drowning in back-to-back meetings and endless email threads. I would finish my day realizing I had not touched the most important things—those big projects that actually drive my growth and success. That's when Stephen Covey's 3 Big Rocks concept clicked for me. It's simple but powerful. Imagine your life as a jar—fill it with sand (the small, unimportant tasks), and you won't have room for the big rocks (the important stuff like career, relationships, and health). But if you put the big rocks in first, the sand can fill the gaps around them, and everything fits. The key? Identify your big rocks and focus on them first. Now, don’t forget about Pebbles—these are your medium-priority tasks. They still matter, but they’re not the most important. Things like reporting, reviewing documents, networking 1on1, writing a proposal or learning a new skill. Lastly, there’s the Sand, which represents busywork—emails, small tasks, meetings that don’t really move the needle. If you let the sand fill up your jar first, you won’t have any room left for the big rocks or even the pebbles. Covey typically suggests setting your big rocks on a weekly basis, which offers a great balance between handling urgent daily tasks and staying aligned with long-term goals. But you can also adapt the concept to work for daily or long-term priorities depending on your needs. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with distractions, Covey reminds us to prioritize what truly moves the needle. Here's how to use it: ▶ Identify Your Big Rocks – What are the 3 things that truly move the needle in your life or career? Focus on them first. ▶ Schedule Rock Time – Block time on your calendar exclusively for these big priorities—don't let the small stuff steal it. ▶ Add the Pebbles - Fit in some medium priority items with the leftover bandwidth. ▶ Say No to Sand – Minimize or learn to say no to the endless sand (emails, minor tasks) that tries to take over your jar. Understanding your big rocks is crucial for a TPM. To dive deeper into the role, responsibilities, and priorities of a TPM, check out the TPM 101 course:  https://lnkd.in/g5RR3Zv7 So, what are your three big rocks this week? Drop them in the comments, and let's talk about what truly matters! 👇

"Just say NO" is the worst advice ever given to an HRIS Workday® Director. And I’ve seen it right here on LinkedIn. The number of gurus preaching this "path to personal growth" nonsense makes my eye twitch. After 30 years running tech companies, I can tell you there's a massive difference between saying "no" and managing priorities intelligently. Every request has some level of validity. Might be close to zero, but nothing is truly zero. And every request deserves to be captured and assessed. Here's the real talk: • NOT every request needs to move into the current development sprint • That's literally why we have backlogs and iceboxes • There's a reason we use Priority 1, 2, 3... (and it's not to make spreadsheets pretty) The master class move? Capture the request, then respond: "After looking at the situation, we don't think this is as high of a priority as other items we're working on for X, Y, Z reasons. If you think we've mis-characterized this, please provide more background on why this is more urgent." Over time, by department, you'll develop a backlog. Now you've got something to work with: • Meet with department leaders regularly • Let them help prioritize their backlog • Create a master prioritization across all backlogs • Report back to department heads on high level expectations  • Don’t be afraid to update as new information/priorities come in - restacking! • Watch organizational magic happen At CloudSmartHR, we've seen this transform HRIS teams time and again. Because sometimes that ancient "low priority item" suddenly becomes mission-critical... and boom! You've got it captured, scoped, and ready to rock. This approach makes everything team-oriented and removes the friction of "saying no." You're not immediately saying "yes" either  - and there's a HUGE difference. The truth? "NO" is not something you should tell internal stakeholders. The opposite of "no" isn't "yes" - it's "let's figure this out together." The best HRIS leaders don't build walls with "no"  - they build bridges with "show me why." P.S. This post, written while reviewing my backlog of "maybe someday" requests... because you never know 😉