I remember working with a company a few years ago that had old
machines that were constantly breaking down.  The machines needed to be
rebuilt, but production was so busy, there was no time.  They were six
weeks out on delivery at that time. To their way of thinking, taking
time to stop and fix the machines would put them even farther behind. 
When I told them we needed to stop production immediately, rebuild the
machines and start fresh, they were incredulous.  “How can you stop
production,” they asked?  “You’re the one who supposedly knows about
business.  Don’t you think it’s important to get these orders out so we
don’t lose customers and so we can pay the bills?”

My reply was simple and straight forward.  “Yes, of course I think
it’s important to deliver products on time.  But it’s critical to the
future of the company to get those machines fixed.  If we fix those
machines we can cut our lead time from six weeks to three.  That will
double our cash turns.  It will also make our customers more than twice
as happy.  Everyone’s going to have to go through three weeks of pain
while we get those machines rebuilt, but after that it will be better
for everyone.”

We notified our customers about the down time and rebuilt the
machines.  Everything improved almost immediately.  We increased sales
by almost 50% — not from any new customers, just from increased
throughput in the factory.  We decreased inventory costs.  We improved
our cash flow.  We made everyone happy.  All because we stopped putting
what was important in front of what was critical.

When you prioritize in your business, be sure you’re putting
critical things in front of important things.  Be sure you know what
the critical things really are.  The best way is to ask yourself, “If
we do this (or don’t do it) what will the long-term consequences be? 
What will the short-term consequences be?  How does that compare in
terms of effect (or potential effect) on the business with everything
else that’s going on?”  You can set your priorities from there.

Are you working on what’s important, or what’s critical?