Incident Management
Practical
By Samson Tanimawo, PhD
Published Jan 12, 2026
4 min read
Incident Priority vs Urgency: Different
Both matter; they're different. The distinction.
Live workflow · 3 working · 1 queuedLive
Signal · gather Working
Decide · pick action Working
Apply · with verify Working
Learn · update playbook Queued
Priority
How important. High priority: many customers; high revenue.
Reflects the magnitude.
Urgency
How fast. High urgency: getting worse rapidly.
Reflects the rate of change.
Matrix
High priority + high urgency: drop everything.
High priority + low urgency: scheduled work.
Low priority + high urgency: contain the spread.
Low priority + low urgency: backlog.