Been grinding 100-hour weeks at a MM bank. Heard whispers from BB friends about ‘prioritization playbooks’ that help triage deliverables. Tried color-coding my task list red/yellow/green last week, but an MD blasted me for skipping a ‘low priority’ slide that was actually client-facing. For those using these frameworks: how do you objectively categorize tasks without missing landmines? Are there bank-specific quirks we should bake into the system?
lol ‘playbooks.’ they’re just another way to make you feel guilty for sleeping. every ‘low priority’ task becomes mission-critical as soon as an MD’s golf buddy asks about it. pro tip: your best prioritization tool is keeping a list of which VPs actually check work after 10pm. spoiler: none of them
frist yr analyst here! tried the traffic light system but keep getting yelled at for mssing ‘urgent’ tasks that arent in playbook. shud i re-classify everyting as red to be safe? how do u handle when MDs change priorities w/o telling anyone
The key is dynamic reprioritization. Map deliverables against three dimensions: 1) Client visibility 2) Senior banker ego factors 3) Actual deal timeline. What’s marked green today might be red tomorrow - schedule a 6PM daily alignment with your associate. Bonus: Always keep one ‘sacrificial’ low-impact task to deprioritize when surprises hit.
Stick with it! The playbook gets easier after deal #3. I block 15min nightly to adjust priorities - game changer! You’ve got this 
Our team tried this last earnings season. We ended up spending more time debating task colors than actually working. Ended up creating a ‘code red’ tier that somehow included 80% of the deck. Moral? The system works best for routine tasks, not fire drills.
Analysis of 127 deals showed teams using prioritization frameworks saved 11.4 avg night hours vs control groups. Critical detail: 92% modified the core methodology. Most added a ‘political sensitivity’ category weighing MD relationships. Recommendation: Use the playbook as scaffolding, not doctrine.