E-Tray Exercises (Prioritisation) Flashcards

You arrive Monday morning to find the following in your inbox. Which should you address first? A) An invitation to a team away-day next month. B) A briefing request from your director needed by 10am today. C) A newsletter from a professional body. D) An email from a colleague asking about your weekend.

Answer: B — the director's briefing due today at 10am

Deadlines from senior officials take highest priority. The briefing is urgent and important — it must be addressed first.

You have four tasks to complete today. Using urgent/important prioritisation, which should be done first? A) Reviewing a draft document due in 3 days. B) Responding to a minister's office query sent an hour ago. C) Filing last week's meeting notes. D) Reading an optional policy update.

Answer: B — urgent and important: a ministerial query

A ministerial query is both urgent and important. It has the highest priority in any prioritisation matrix.

An e-tray contains: a complaint letter requiring a response within 5 days, a meeting request for next week, a risk alert about a live IT system, and an FYI email with no action required. What is the correct order of priority?

Answer: Risk alert, complaint letter, meeting request, FYI email

A live system risk alert could affect operations immediately — it is the most urgent. The complaint has a deadline. The meeting is important but not urgent. The FYI requires no action.

Your e-tray contains a complaint from a stakeholder, a request for statistics from the press office needed within the hour, a draft document from a colleague for comment due in two days, and a meeting confirmation. Which do you handle first?

Answer: Press office statistics request — due within the hour

The press office request has the nearest, hardest deadline (within the hour) and involves external-facing communications. It must be the immediate priority.

You have 90 minutes before an important meeting and four tasks pending. Which task should you defer to after the meeting? A) Prepare talking points for the meeting. B) Email a colleague to confirm a data source. C) Update a tracker that has a weekly deadline. D) Read background papers for the meeting.

Answer: C — the tracker with a weekly deadline

The tracker has a weekly deadline — it is important but not time-critical right now. Tasks directly related to the upcoming meeting take priority.

In an e-tray exercise you find: an email from a journalist requesting comment (1-hour deadline), a fire evacuation notice for a drill in 10 minutes, a request to review a policy document by end of week, and a message from a colleague about a lunch arrangement. What is the correct order of priority?

Answer: Evacuation drill, journalist request, policy document, lunch arrangement

Health and safety obligations make the imminent evacuation drill the immediate first priority. The journalist deadline is next. Policy review can wait. Lunch is lowest priority.