Task List Challenges: Just Too D*mn Busy

There are tons of productivity gurus, coaches, systems, and software out there that will help you squeeze a few more minutes out of the day.  The sad truth of the productivity world is that, sometimes, you just have too much to do.

This one trips me up a lot.  My task list has fifty things on it, all of which have to be done right now, with no chance that I can get them all done.  In this case, I have a few short term and long term things I do to get the ship righted.

1. Sound the alarm.  Those that work with me will know the e-mail all too well.  About once a quarter, an e-mail will go out, informing everyone of the current depth of my next action list and unread/unprocessed emails.  I tell them all that unless they have specifically heard from my that day, there is a serious danger that what they need from me is not going to get done when I committed. I also give them a rough estimate of when I think I will complete my triage of my outstanding issues (weekly review) so I'll have a handle on how I will move forward.  I let them know if they need something urgent, they better seek me out on the phone, in person, or on IM. This helps to minimize the damage and frustration on everyone's part.
2. Process everything.  Unless the building is literally on fire, I immediately start processing every inbox (e-mail, physical in tray, voicemail accounts, etc).
3. Start with the least important stuff.  That sounds counter intuitive, but the first thing I do, once I have a handle on every commitment I have is to look for the least important items.  Why?  I decommit on them.  I'll clear out everything that isn't critical to my most important projects.  For some, this means blowing it off completely.  For others, just deferring them until later.  This clears the deck for the important items.
4. Delegate.  Next I take a harder look at delegation.  Generally I find that in an emergency (which this is), there are tasks that COULD be delegated, but I had not, because it wouldn't result in the best outcome.  I look for tasks where any outcome is better than no outcome and delegate them as appropriate.
5. Triage the affected projects.  Next I look at the projects that are affected by the backlog.  I note the most important, though unless there is a truly urgent issue, I take no further action until later.
6. Decide who I want to make mad.  Next I take a look at who the commitments are to.  At this point, there still is more than I can get done, so I determine who I want to make mad and who I do not.  As a rule, customers generally bubble to the top, directs bubble down.
7. Schedule time.  Next I block off my calendar to minimize the amount of time I lose in the short term.

Once I get to this point, I can start work on a more manageable list. There is no secret formula from there.  Generally I will start at "today" and work forward and backwards, keeping unaffected projects moving on schedule, and assessing the impact of the schedule hit on each project that has an overdue next action.