Sometimes an activity described by a block in StrategyBlocks carries greater importance to the organization than another, regardless of its position and level in the value tree. There are different ways of thinking about prioritization and the effect is has on blocks and output.

The priority field [BLOCK PROPERTIES (gear icon) > DETAILS > PRIORITY] is used to describe the importance of a block with a numeric value from 1 to 10 (1 = low importance, 10 = high).

This is a useful visual indicator, but it also has another important role in the blocks customizable health calculation. Blocks with a higher priority will carry additional weighting, meaning it will be harder for its strategic health to outperform its sibling blocks.

However another way of interpreting priority is the effort required to deliver an activity. If a project required double the amount of resource than another (or carried greater importance), it may be desirable to allow for this in the blocks progress rollup [BLOCK PROPERTIES (gear icon) > MANAGE > ROLLUP].

Here we can use the blocks priority to influence its impact on its parent block’s progress. Effectively it will be harder for that block to achieve a positive progress rating because of the importance of 1 or more of its children.

Priority can also be charted within a Custom Dashboard. Priority along with 2 other numeric variables can be charted to plot blocks for the purpose of comparison. An example may be to “show all blocks belonging to a user ranked by priority compared to the actual progress completed to date, with the size of the bubble governed by a third variable” (again priority could be used).