De-prioritize

To reduce the importance of something or someone; to place an item or task lower in the order of priorities. This involves shifting focus and resources away from a previously important objective, potentially allocating less time, effort, or funding to it. It's a strategic decision often made to allocate resources more effectively to higher-priority items or to adapt to changing circumstances. The act suggests a conscious choice to diminish emphasis, rather than to abandon entirely. It's a fluid process subject to change, as priorities may shift again.

De-prioritize meaning with examples

• Faced with a shrinking budget, the company decided to de-prioritize its less profitable research and development projects. The CEO made this tough choice to preserve funding for their core business strategy, ensuring financial stability. It was a hard decision, affecting several teams, but vital for their long-term success and avoiding broader financial issues.
• The project manager chose to de-prioritize the aesthetically pleasing but non-essential features of the new software to meet the launch deadline. Focusing on core functionality allowed them to deliver the minimum viable product on time, addressing critical user needs without unnecessary delays, ensuring market competitiveness.
• After receiving new customer feedback, the marketing team voted to de-prioritize the less engaging social media campaign in favor of launching a new ad campaign. This reallocation was intended to produce higher conversion rates with a higher potential return on investment, therefore attracting more customers.
• Given the urgent need to address a security breach, the IT department had to de-prioritize routine system maintenance tasks. While essential, these tasks had to take a back seat to ensure immediate security risks were minimized and systems were stable, avoiding critical data loss.
• Following the initial phase of the humanitarian crisis, the aid organization began to de-prioritize immediate emergency relief and move towards long-term development projects. They sought to shift their focus and resources toward sustainable solutions to the problems, thereby maximizing the impact of their actions.