Workload & wellbeing
Agree what counts as urgent
A short team conversation to agree what really can't wait, how to flag it, and what can wait until tomorrow
With your team, agree what actually counts as urgent, one way to flag it so it stands out, and what can safely wait until the next working day.
- 20 minutes
- You and your team
- Once
- Conversation
Why this can work
Without a shared definition, urgency is whatever the sender feels, so everyone treats every message as if it might be the important one. Agreeing on a short list of what really can't wait, and one clear way to flag it, lets people relax about everything else. It protects focus and evenings, and it makes real emergencies easier to spot.
Read moreHow to set team norms for urgent messages
You’ll come away with a short, shared definition of urgent and one agreed way to flag it.
- Raise it with what you've noticed.
Bring it to a team meeting, or to your manager first. Start from what you've seen rather than a complaint.
To: your team or your managerI've noticed a lot of our messages get treated as urgent, including a recent example. I think it means we're all checking constantly in case something really can't wait.
Could we take 20 minutes to agree what actually counts as urgent, and one clear way to flag it? Everything else could wait until the next working day.
I'd suggest we try it for a month and see how it feels.
Swap the highlighted parts for your thing. Works on Slack, in email, or said out loud. - Look at what has actually been urgent.
Go back over the last month or two together. Which things truly needed action within hours, and what would have happened if they'd waited until morning? Real examples settle this faster than hypotheticals.
You“Think of the last thing that genuinely couldn't wait until the next morning. What made it that way?” - Write a short definition.
Two or three kinds of things, in plain words: say, a customer who can't use the product, a same-day deadline at real risk, or a safety issue. Everything else waits for working hours.
Tip: If the list keeps growing, the definition isn't doing its job. Most teams end up with fewer items than they expected.
- Pick one way to flag it.
A phone call, a dedicated channel, or one agreed word at the start of a message. What matters is that it looks different from everything else, so nobody has to read every message to find it.
- Try it for a month, then check.
Put a date on the calendar to ask what worked and what got missed. Adjust the list and keep the flag.
Good times to repeat it: when your team forms or changesafter a stretch of after-hours pingswhen a real emergency got missed
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Plenty of important work can wait a day. Keeping the list to things where waiting causes real harm keeps it short, and keeps people trusting it.
What might make this harder
Start with your manager, one on one, with what you've noticed and one example. It lands more easily as a suggestion to them than as a proposal to the whole team.
Questions people ask
How do I decide what's urgent at work?
Ask what happens if it waits until the next working day. If the answer is real harm, like a customer who can't work or a deadline missed, it's urgent. Otherwise it can usually wait.
How do I stop getting work messages after hours?
Agree with your team what actually counts as urgent and one way to flag it. Once real emergencies look different, it's easier for everyone to let the rest wait until morning.
How should a team flag urgent messages?
Pick one method that stands out from everyday messages, like a phone call or a dedicated channel, and keep it for the few things on your agreed list.
What's the difference between urgent and important at work?
Urgent means it needs action soon or something goes wrong. Important means it matters a lot. Much important work isn't urgent, and plenty of urgent-feeling messages aren't very important.
Why this works, and where it comes from
On most teams, urgency gets set by whoever sends the message. A quick question from someone senior reads as urgent. A thread with three exclamation marks reads as urgent. What wears people down isn't the number of messages, it's never knowing which one matters. That uncertainty is what keeps people checking their phones at dinner.
The fix isn't replying faster or slower. It's making the few truly urgent things look different, so everything else can wait without worry. It's a relief for the sender too. Plenty of people mark things urgent only because they don't know another way to make sure something won't get lost. Give them one clear way to do that, and much of the shouting in ordinary messages tends to fade.
You don't need to be the manager to raise this. Teams can go years without a norm simply because nobody suggested one. Opening with what you've noticed, what you think it means, and what you'd suggest trying keeps it from sounding like a complaint about anyone's habits, and gives people something concrete to say yes to.
It's the wrong conversation when the real issue is one person, like a manager who sends messages late every night; a private word with them will do more than any team norm. It's also the wrong moment in the middle of a crisis, like an outage or a launch week. Wait until it's over, then bring it up with that week as your first example.
Other simple things to consider
What to do next
More in Workload & wellbeing
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An exercise written by Truest, based on our experience. Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.