MENTAL MODEL · M6624

First Important Priorities

DecidemediumDecision Science

Included

Updated 2026-08-16

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

First Important Priorities (FIP) is a prioritization tool from Edward de Bono's CoRT thinking program. The procedure lists all relevant factors, ideas, or options, ranks them by importance, selects the top few, usually three to five, and analyzes those in depth. Its function is to force an explicit act of triage: because attention is finite, treating all candidates as equally important guarantees that none receives enough. The tool assumes the list is genuinely complete before ranking begins, and that ranking criteria are agreed in advance, since otherwise the selection simply reflects whoever speaks first.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Use full listing: capture every candidate factor before ranking any of them, so nothing is silently dropped. - Use forced ranking: order the list by importance instead of sorting items into equal buckets. - Use depth limit: analyze only the top few in detail and park the rest explicitly.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Attention and resources are limited, so spreading them across many candidates leaves each one under-supported. FIP counteracts this by making selection an explicit, visible act rather than an implicit one. Listing first prevents premature filtering, and ranking forces comparisons that reveal which items actually matter. Choosing a small number then concentrates effort where it can produce results, while the parked items remain documented rather than forgotten. The constraint that matters is the number selected: if the top group grows large, the prioritization has produced nothing.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

List every relevant factor, option, or requirement without filtering. 2. Agree on the criterion for importance before ranking. 3. Order the full list by that agreed criterion before selecting anything. 4. Select the top three to five items for detailed work. 5. Record the remaining items in a deferred list with a review date.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

link
en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_BonoZH · Explicit
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