Priority levels (P1–P4)

Priority levels are a small, fixed set of labels — most commonly P1 through P4 — that rank tasks by how much they matter and how soon. P1 means critical, do it today; P4 means capture it, but don't schedule it. The whole point is to make "what should I work on next?" a fast lookup instead of an agonizing decision, especially when a backlog is full and everything feels urgent.

What each level means

A common reading of the four levels:

• P1 — Critical: something is broken or bleeding revenue. Drop everything and fix it today.
• P2 — High: important and moves a metric you care about. Do it this week.
• P3 — Medium: worth doing, no urgency. Slot it in over the next couple of weeks.
• P4 — Low: capture so you don't forget, but don't put it on a schedule. Most ideas live here.

Priority vs. due date

Priority ("how much does this matter?") is not the same as a due date ("when must it be done?"). A P1 bug may have no date — it's just now. A P3 report may have a hard Friday deadline. Tracking both lets you sort by urgency and by commitment, which is more honest than forcing everything into one dimension.

Why a simple scale beats scoring frameworks

Scoring systems like ICE or RICE ask for data (reach, impact, confidence) that solo founders rarely have, and they turn every task into a 12-minute estimation exercise. A four-bucket scale collapses prioritization into two fast questions — what breaks if I skip this for 48 hours? and does this move a metric I care about? — which is enough for almost any small team.

How GritShip handles this

GritShip uses exactly this model: every task carries a P1–P4 priority. There's no weighted scoring, no estimation fields — just four buckets you can set with a keystroke. For the full reasoning behind the system, see the indie hacker's P1–P4 prioritization guide.