We often find ourselves with so many activities to do that it's hard to decide which one to start with.
There are time and/or resource limitations when it comes to deciding what to start with.
One thing is clear: the best way to do nothing is to try to do everything at once. It's more effective to move forward one at a time. Define each task step by step.
But again, which one to start with?
To make the right decisions, we must rely on data.
However, what do we do when there are no numbers or objective parameters to measure a situation? Or what do we do when we have to decide between completely different options?
It's necessary to be able to prioritize problems (opportunities!) and solve them in order, one by one. Our energy should be focused on moving forward, not paralyzing ourselves thinking about what to do with all the pending tasks!
Gravity, Urgency and Trend.
That's what the GUT method is for. It consists of classifying each task to be solved into three categories: Severity, Urgency, and Tendency. That's why it's called GUT.
SEVERITY: Incident or Damage caused by the problem. Level of Importance.
- Degree to which the problem can harm us.
- How much is the problem hindering the achievement of the ideal condition? (The gap is always analyzed, that is, the current situation is compared with the ideal or required condition.)
URGENCY: Pressure on resolution/time available to act. Urgency Level.
- Time in which the situation can be lived with before problems begin.
- If we don't address the problem now, how big will the problem's effect be on the results?
TREND: How the situation evolves if we don't intervene. Potential for expansion.
- What would happen to the situation if we did nothing to resolve it.
- Is the problem getting bigger the more we ignore it?
Worksheet
For each activity / situation / problem to be solved / item to be prioritized, we should ask ourselves:
How Serious Is It?
How Urgent is it?
What will the trend be like?
And depending on the answer, one of the values shown in the predefined matrix must be assigned to each of the three parameters:
There are different possible scores for the three parameters, depending on the particular situation being analyzed.
Following the definition of each of the three terms, choose a representative numerical value.
It is very important to pay attention to the definitions of "gravity" and "urgency", since they are common words used in everyday language, and whose usual notion does not always coincide with the concept given in this methodology.
Once the valuation is complete, and after obtaining the GUT number for each activity, we will order them from highest to lowest, with the highest number representing the task we should start with.
In the case of the example we see below, we will start with Task No. 2, continue with No. 1 and finally do No. 3.
GUT is a simple method for prioritizing between different alternatives, used both in the world TPM as in Toyota.
I hope you use it the next time you have to decide between several problems (opportunities) to solve.
