Making sure you're working on the right things

Published: September 4, 2025 · 3 min read

I've noticed something interesting across different teams and companies: the difference between good work and great work isn't effort or talent but it's often direction.

The uncomfortable truth is that personal effectiveness doesn't always translate to organizational impact. You can excel at executing work and shipping things that ultimately doesn't matter to your team or company's goals.

Even highly skilled professionals regularly find themselves in this predicament:

• The developer who perfects features users don't actually need
• The analyst who produces detailed reports nobody acts upon
• The marketer who creates brilliant campaigns for the wrong audience

In each case, the individual work might be excellent – it's just not the right work.

Navigating the Complexity

What makes this challenge particularly difficult is that "right work" isn't always obvious. Organizational priorities might frequently shift and sometimes without clear communication. You may be in scenario that what matters might look different across departments or roles. Lastly, some valuable work also might not immediately show visible or tangible results. I've learned that alignment on what's most important is an ongoing negotiation requiring both awareness and adaptability.

Urgent vs Important

To add another layer of this, often teams often find themselves caught in a cycle of reacting to what's most urgent rather than focusing on what's truly important. The constant pull of deadlines and immediate fires can drown out the deeper, strategic work that can be a game changer for the team and drive the needle with the company. If you're spending most of their energy fighting the urgent, it could be at the expense of the important.

Finding Your Way Forward

While there's no perfect formula, these practices can help navigate the ambiguity:

Check in, don't assume

Priorities move quickly. Syncing up regularly help create clarity about what matters most right now. Create a dynamic where you're able to have informal check ins often.

Sync perspectives

Each of us has part of the picture. By talking openly, we create a richer, shared understanding of priorities. Share openly and listen hard.

Embrace a culture of experimentation

Let's test, learn, and adjust. Experiments work best when the whole team is involved in the learning loop. Be courageous about testing new approaches and learning together.

Connect the dots out loud

When we make the strategy visible, other teams benefits from seeing how their work fits the bigger story.

Widen the lens

Cross-team awareness helps us from avoid duplicating effort and keeps us all pulling in the same direction.

Revisit the old stuff and retire legacy work

Some tasks continue through habit rather than necessity. The team should ask: "Would we start this same initiative today and is this still valuable?" If not, maybe it's time to let it go. Question it, and free up cycles for more important work.

The professionals who make the biggest impact aren't just productive but they're purposeful. They're continuously calibrating their efforts toward work that truly moves the needle for their organization and fighting the good fight of championing for the important work even as that target evolves.