Marketing teams waste an average of 23% of their working time managing backlogs that never get shorter. That's over a full day each week spent juggling priorities, answering "what should we do next," and watching urgent requests pile up while strategic work gets pushed to "next quarter."
Our team tested a prompt that converts a chaotic backlog into a one-page priority plan in under 10 minutes. No complex frameworks. No 90-minute prioritization meetings. Just three inputs and one usable output.
Here's what it produced for us last week:
Input: 47 backlog items ranging from "redesign landing page" to "fix broken email automation"
Output: A one-page plan with 8 prioritized initiatives, specific owners, realistic deadlines, and a clear "not this week" list
Result: Our marketing manager handed it directly to the team. Zero follow-up questions. Work started that afternoon.
The difference between this and other prioritization prompts? Constraints. Most prompts ask AI to rank everything. This one forces tradeoffs based on your actual capacity and goals, then outputs a format your team can execute immediately.
What you're about to get:
The complete prompt (copy-paste ready)
3 required inputs to customize
5 real example outputs from different team sizes
Modification guide for quarterly vs. weekly planning
Slack template to share with your team
This prompt produces an executable plan in 8 minutes instead of 90-minute planning meetings.
The Complete Prompt
Copy this entire block and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or your preferred AI tool:
You are a marketing operations strategist helping a marketing team prioritize their backlog for the week ahead.
CONTEXT:
Team Capacity: [INSERT: e.g., "3 people, 20 hours each = 60 total hours this week"]
Primary Goals This Week: [INSERT: e.g., "Launch Q1 campaign, improve conversion rate on pricing page, reduce support tickets about product features"]
Deadline Commitments: [INSERT: e.g., "Campaign must launch by Friday EOD, pricing page updates needed before sales meeting Thursday"]
BACKLOG ITEMS:
[PASTE YOUR FULL BACKLOG HERE - include everything, don't filter]
YOUR TASK:
Create a one-page weekly plan that includes:
1. THIS WEEK (Max 8 items):
- List the specific items that MUST get done
- Assign each item to: Strategy Work, Execution Work, or Maintenance
- Include realistic time estimate for each
- Specify owner (use role if names aren't provided: e.g., "Designer", "Content Lead")
- List in priority order
2. NEXT WEEK (Max 5 items):
- Items that are important but can wait 7 days
- Brief reason why they're deferred
3. NOT NOW (Everything else):
- Create a "parking lot" summary
- Group by theme (e.g., "Future campaign ideas", "Tech debt", "Nice-to-haves")
4. CAPACITY CHECK:
- Total estimated hours for "This Week" items
- Flag if over capacity and suggest which item to defer
5. EXECUTION NOTES:
- List any dependencies or blockers
- Highlight items that need external input
- Note any deadline conflicts
FORMAT:
Use clean markdown formatting with clear headers. Make it readable in Slack or printed as a single page.
CONSTRAINTS:
- Be ruthless. Most things can wait.
- If something doesn't directly support this week's goals or deadline commitments, it goes to "Next Week" or "Not Now"
- Maximum 8 items in "This Week" - if the backlog has 50 items, 42 of them are not urgent
- Time estimates should be realistic, not optimistic
- If capacity is over 90%, flag it immediately
OUTPUT STYLE:
- Direct and actionable
- No fluff or motivational language
- Assume the reader will hand this directly to their team
Required Inputs to Customize
Replace these three bracketed sections with your actual information:
1. Team Capacity
Format: "[Number] people, [hours] each = [total] hours this week"
Example: "2 full-time, 1 part-time = 60 hours total" or "Solo marketer with 15 hours available"
Why it matters: Forces realistic constraints instead of fantasy planning
2. Primary Goals This Week
Format: 2-3 specific outcomes you need to achieve
Example: "Launch webinar campaign, ship case study page, reduce bounce rate on pricing page"
Avoid: Vague goals like "improve brand awareness" or "create more content"
Why it matters: Everything gets ranked against these goals
3. Deadline Commitments
Format: Specific deliverables with actual dates
Example: "Sales deck updates by Tuesday 2pm, email sequence by Thursday EOD"
Include external dependencies: "CEO needs campaign brief before board meeting Friday"
Why it matters: Separates real deadlines from made-up urgency
Example Outputs from Real Use
Example 1: Small Agency Team (3 people, 60 hours)
Backlog Input: 32 items ranging from client campaign launches to internal process improvements
THIS WEEK (8 items - 58 hours):
STRATEGY WORK:
Client A Campaign Strategy Doc - 8h - Content Lead - Due Wed for client review
Q1 Performance Report for Leadership - 4h - Marketing Manager - Due Fri
EXECUTION WORK: 3. Client B Landing Page Copy + Design - 12h - Designer + Copywriter - Due Thurs 4. Weekly Email Newsletter - 6h - Content Lead - Sends Tuesday 5. Social Media Calendar (2 weeks) - 4h - Junior Marketer - Due Thurs
MAINTENANCE: 6. Fix Broken Form on Contact Page - 3h - Designer - Blocking leads 7. Update Case Study Page with New Logos - 2h - Designer - Quick win 8. Client C Monthly Report - 3h - Account Manager - Due Friday
CAPACITY CHECK: 58/60 hours - Good capacity utilization
NEXT WEEK:
Client D campaign research (waiting on client data)
Internal branding refresh (no external deadline)
New hire onboarding materials (start date is 2 weeks out)
NOT NOW (Parking Lot):
Future Campaign Ideas: 12 items
Process Improvements: 8 items
Nice-to-haves: 9 items
EXECUTION NOTES:
Client A strategy doc blocks their campaign launch next week
Broken form is losing leads - prioritize today
Client C report is template-based, should take <3 hours
Example 2: Solo Marketing Manager (25 hours)
Backlog Input: 47 items accumulated over 6 weeks
THIS WEEK (6 items - 24 hours):
STRATEGY WORK:
Pricing Page A/B Test Plan - 4h - Me - Exec team wants results by month-end
Q1 Budget Allocation Review - 3h - Me - Finance needs this by Wed
EXECUTION WORK: 3. Product Launch Email Sequence (3 emails) - 8h - Me - Launch is Monday 4. Sales Enablement One-Pager - 4h - Me - Sales team blocked without this 5. Update Website Hero with New Product - 2h - Me - Goes live with launch
MAINTENANCE: 6. Fix Analytics Tracking on Blog - 3h - Me - Can't report without data
CAPACITY CHECK: 24/25 hours - At capacity
NEXT WEEK:
Webinar planning (event is 3 weeks out)
Content calendar for next month
Competitive analysis update
NOT NOW (Parking Lot):
Content Ideas: 18 items
Website Improvements: 11 items
Tool Evaluations: 6 items
Process Documentation: 9 items
EXECUTION NOTES:
Everything in "This Week" is blocking something else
Analytics fix is urgent - we're flying blind on blog performance
Consider pushing A/B test to next week if sales one-pager takes longer
Example 3: Enterprise Marketing Team (8 people, 160 hours)
Backlog Input: 83 items across paid, content, email, and events
THIS WEEK (8 items - 152 hours):
STRATEGY WORK:
Enterprise Campaign Messaging Framework - 24h - Content Director + Copywriter - Due Thurs for review
Paid Media Q2 Plan - 16h - Paid Media Manager - Budget approval meeting Friday
EXECUTION WORK: 3. Webinar Production (filming, editing, promotion) - 40h - Events Team + Designer - Event is next Tuesday 4. Email Nurture Sequence (5 emails) - 20h - Email Marketing Lead - Launches Monday 5. Blog Content (3 articles) - 24h - Content Team - SEO deadline is Friday 6. LinkedIn Ad Creative Refresh (6 variants) - 16h - Designer + Paid Media - Current ads fatiguing
MAINTENANCE: 7. CRM Data Cleanup for Segmentation - 8h - Marketing Ops - Blocking email sends 8. Update Sales Deck with Q4 Results - 4h - Content Lead - Sales kickoff Monday
CAPACITY CHECK: 152/160 hours - Well-balanced
NEXT WEEK:
Case study production (interviews scheduled for next week)
Website navigation redesign (project kickoff scheduled)
Partner co-marketing campaign planning
Event booth design for conference (event is 6 weeks out)
NOT NOW (Parking Lot):
Future Campaigns: 23 items
Website Improvements: 19 items
Content Backlog: 27 items
Process Projects: 10 items
EXECUTION NOTES:
Webinar is the critical path - everything else can flex around it
CRM cleanup is blocking several email campaigns - prioritize Monday
LinkedIn ads need refresh urgently - current CTR dropped 40%
Sales deck is quick win and high visibility for leadership
How to Modify for Different Use Cases
For Quarterly Planning (vs. Weekly)
Change these inputs:
Capacity: "3 people, 12 weeks, approximately 500 hours total per person"
Goals: "Q2 goals: Launch 2 major campaigns, increase MQL by 25%, ship new website"
Constraints: "Maximum 12 major initiatives - each should take 40-120 hours"
The prompt will output:
THIS QUARTER (max 12 initiatives)
NEXT QUARTER (5-8 initiatives)
FUTURE BACKLOG (everything else)
For Different Team Sizes
Solo Marketer:
Reduce "This Week" max to 5-6 items
Add constraint: "Flag any item requiring skills I don't have (design, dev, video)"
Focus on items you can complete independently
Large Team (10+ people):
Increase "This Week" max to 12 items
Add input: "Team structure: [list roles and capacity]"
Add output requirement: "Assign by role, highlight cross-functional dependencies"
For Different Planning Horizons
Daily Planning (High-Fire Environments):
Capacity: "Team has 6 productive hours today"
Goals: "What MUST ship today to unblock others"
Max items: 3-5
Sprint Planning (2-week cycles):
Capacity: "Team has 160 hours over 2 weeks"
Goals: "Sprint goal: [specific outcome]"
Add: "Story point estimates if available"
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake 1: Listing goals as backlog items ❌ Wrong: Including "Increase conversions" in the backlog ✓ Right: "Increase conversions by 15%" goes in GOALS, "A/B test pricing page CTA" goes in backlog
Mistake 2: Underestimating capacity ❌ Wrong: "3 people = 120 hours" (assumes 40 productive hours/week) ✓ Right: "3 people = 60-75 hours" (accounts for meetings, email, context switching)
Mistake 3: No deadline commitments ❌ Wrong: Leaving deadline section blank ✓ Right: Even if you don't have external deadlines, add internal ones: "Want campaign live by Friday to hit monthly goal"
Mistake 4: Vague backlog items ❌ Wrong: "Work on website", "Improve SEO", "Better emails" ✓ Right: "Update homepage hero section", "Fix 15 broken backlinks", "Write abandoned cart email sequence"
Mistake 5: Ignoring the capacity check ❌ Wrong: Planning 80 hours of work for 60 hours of capacity ✓ Right: When prompt flags over-capacity, move lowest-priority item to "Next Week"
We built a Slack template our team uses every Monday:
📋 **This Week's Priority Plan** (Week of [Date])
**Team Capacity:** [X hours]
**This Week's Goals:**
- [Goal 1]
- [Goal 2]
**THIS WEEK (Must-Do):**
1. [Item] - [Owner] - [Deadline] - [Hours]
2. [Item] - [Owner] - [Deadline] - [Hours]
3. [Item] - [Owner] - [Deadline] - [Hours]
[etc...]
**DEFERRED TO NEXT WEEK:**
- [Item] - [Brief reason]
- [Item] - [Brief reason]
**BLOCKERS/DEPENDENCIES:**
- [Any items blocked or needing external input]
**Questions/Conflicts?** Reply in thread by end of day Monday.
**Source backlog:** [Link to full backlog in Asana/Notion/wherever]
---
Generated using our weekly prioritization prompt. Backlog had [X] items, we're tackling [Y] this week.This format works because:
Everyone sees the full picture
Owners are clear
Deferred items are visible (no one thinks their request disappeared)
Questions get surfaced immediately
Takes 2 minutes to post
Why This Works Better Than Traditional Frameworks
Most prioritization frameworks (RICE, MoSCoW, Eisenhower Matrix) fail in practice because they require:
Scoring every item across multiple dimensions
Team alignment meetings that take 90 minutes
Constant recalculation as new items arrive
This prompt works because it uses capacity constraints instead of scoring systems.
Traditional approach: "Let's score all 47 items for reach, impact, confidence, and effort, then multiply them together." Result: 2 hours later, you're still debating whether item #23 has an impact score of 2.5 or 3.
This approach: "You have 60 hours. Your goal is launching the campaign. What must happen this week?" Result: 8 minutes later, you have a plan your team can execute.
The forced constraint ("maximum 8 items") creates clarity. When you can only choose 8 things from a list of 47, the important stuff surfaces immediately.
What Our Team Learned
We've used this prompt for 12 consecutive weeks. Here's what changed:
Week 1: Felt uncomfortable having 39 items in "Not Now" — surely more than 8 things are important? Week 4: Realized the "Not Now" list never gets shorter, and that's fine. New items arrive faster than we complete old ones. Week 8: Stopped having prioritization meetings. The prompt + 10 minutes of review replaced a recurring 90-minute meeting. Week 12: Noticed our team stopped asking "what should I work on?" — they just checked the Slack post every Monday.
The biggest surprise: items in the "Not Now" parking lot often become irrelevant within 2-3 weeks. We'd been wasting energy planning work that naturally resolved itself or stopped mattering.
Advanced Modification: Add "Why We Chose This"
For teams that need to justify prioritization to stakeholders, add this to the prompt:
For each item in "THIS WEEK", add a one-line "Selected because:" explanation that ties back to the goals or deadline commitments.Example output:
Client B Landing Page - Designer + Copywriter - Due Thurs
Selected because: Blocks client campaign launch next week (deadline commitment)
Fix Broken Contact Form - Designer - Due Wed
Selected because: Currently losing leads daily (directly impacts primary goal of pipeline generation)
This makes it impossible for anyone to question "why are we doing this instead of my pet project?"
When This Prompt Doesn't Work
Don't use this if:
You need to prioritize across multiple quarters (use quarterly version instead)
Your team has no shared goals (fix that first — this will just expose the misalignment)
You have no idea how long tasks take (run a 2-week estimation calibration period first)
Stakeholders override your plan daily (this is a process problem, not a prompt problem)
Do use this if:
Your backlog is overwhelming
You waste time in prioritization meetings
Your team constantly asks "what's most important"
You need to justify why certain work is deferred
You're a team of 1-10 people with too much to do
What to Do Next
Collect your inputs: Team capacity, goals for the week, any deadline commitments
Dump your backlog: Don't filter — paste everything into the prompt
Run it: Takes 2 minutes to run, 5-8 minutes to review output
Ship it: Post to Slack/email your team
Track one thing: Did anyone ask "what should I work on?" this week? (The goal is zero questions)
Our team runs this every Monday at 9am. By 9:15am, everyone knows what they're doing for the week.
The backlog never gets shorter. The work never stops coming. But every Monday, we know exactly what 8 things matter most.
by JC
for the AdAI Ed. Team
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