---
slug: "Prioritize"
name: "Prioritize"
type: "Strategy"
layer: "Mind"
ref: "Prioritize#99f0"
sema_id: "sema:Prioritize#mh:SHA-256:99f0603f8984f4c94d02384248966603cf86d9ccf95ea62a7c481c3eccb694fd"
tags: ["Mind","Strategy"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json
url: https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/Prioritize/
related: ["Rank","Task","Value","Work","ContextFirst","Defer","Eliminate","StalledDirectionReview","UncertaintyMap","StalledDirectionReview#aa6a"]
---

# Prioritize

Ordering tasks by importance and urgency

Layer: Mind · Category: Strategy

## Mechanism

Impact-Effort Ranking: List all options. Score each on impact ([Value](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Value.md) if done) and effort (cost to do). Compute ratio. Sort by ratio descending. [Work](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Work.md) top-down. Re-score periodically as information changes. Pareto principle: 20% of [Work](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Work.md) yields 80% of [Value](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Value.md). It applies [Rank](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Rank.md) to the candidate set based on an Impact/Effort ratio.

## Invariants

- Completeness: output contains every input item.
- Ordering: sorted by descending impact-to-effort ratio.

## Preconditions

- Items are comparable

## Postconditions

- Set ordered

## Failure modes

- Priority Inversion: Low-priority [Task](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Task.md) blocks high-priority [Task](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Task.md) due to resource dependency.

## Builds on

- [Rank](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Rank.md) (Infrastructure; Composes with)
- [Task](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Task.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [Value](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Value.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [Work](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Work.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [ContextFirst](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/ContextFirst.md) (Mind; References)
- [Defer](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Defer.md) (Mind; References)
- [Eliminate](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Eliminate.md) (Mind; References)
- [StalledDirectionReview](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/StalledDirectionReview.md) (Mind; References)
- [UncertaintyMap](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/UncertaintyMap.md) (Mind; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Prioritize#mh:SHA-256:99f0603f8984f4c94d02384248966603cf86d9ccf95ea62a7c481c3eccb694fd`
- Ref: `Prioritize#99f0`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:Prioritize#mh:SHA-256:dd165fed938b9e9d4072846d09081f3ac1ab5c278c5abc5e5b0b7bd84fafcd62`
  - `sema:Prioritize#mh:SHA-256:8028bf196f44e09cb60a59a1a067b57c3de28c2d41ad9a600a6797c335567458`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/Prioritize/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/#Prioritize)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Prioritize.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json)