# Triage

> Triage

- Skill: `sethdford/triage` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sethdford/triage`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethdford/triage/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: sethdford (https://skillmd.com/u/sethdford)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethdford/triage

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# Triage

When volume exceeds capacity, sort fast, act on the critical few, and stop perfect sorting. Medical-style triage: urgency plus ability to help, not fairness of reading order.

## When to Use
- Inboxes, incidents, review queues, or alerts are backing up.
- You risk analysis paralysis—spending more time labeling than fixing.

## Workflow
1. **Time-box sorting** (e.g., 15–25 minutes): never spend thirty minutes debating a five-minute task in triage.
2. **Four buckets**: **Act now** (real deadline or stop-the-line harm), **Schedule** (important, not immediate), **Delegate** (owner exists), **Drop** (low value or not yours).
3. **Urgency vs leverage**: prioritize what unblocks others or reduces blast radius.
4. **Batch** similar items (approvals, typos, quick replies) to reduce context switching.
5. **Information flood**: skim → flag candidates → deep-dive only top slices; avoid linear reading of everything.
6. **“Enough” rule**: triage ends when every item has a bucket and a next step or owner—not when every item is finished.
7. **Review loop**: reschedule a short revisit for the Schedule bucket; archive or delete obvious Drop items.

## Examples
**Example 1:** Morning email surge: 10-minute pass for Act now + quick Delegates; block calendar for top two Scheduled deep items.

**Example 2:** Alert storm during outage: triage by customer impact and dependency order; defer cosmetic warnings until stable.