i agree that using a task tracking system (JIRA, trello, github issues, whatever) is a good idea, if only to help you remember how far you got doing a thing before you got task-switched, and to help provide evidence of why things might not be getting done efficiently.<p>some of this can be mitigated by having more people involved, if that is a possibility. so there is a layer shielding you from the owner's direct involvement, and so your boss is different to the owner, and the owner is treated like an eager but somewhat difficult client.<p>suppose someone is hired or is willing to sacrifice themselves to act as team lead. the team lead's main job is managing the owner to get clear priorities, and shielding the dev team from being micromanaged.<p>You can probably improve things by <i>reducing</i> how agile and responsive your current dev process is to changes in priorities at the whim of the owner, since the owner is currently not giving effective direction.<p>You can reduce agility and responsiveness in this context by introducing a capital-A agile process, such as Scrum. E.g. Start doing 2 week sprints. You and your colleagues are willing to completely change your priorities based on the latest whims/priorities/requirements of the owner, but only at the start of each sprint when you are committing to which tasks you plan to do.<p>If you have someone willing to play team lead or scrum master, they need to be on call all the time to shield the dev team from the owner's latest attempt to task switch or change priorities during a sprint. The owner's concerns and priorities are always important, and can be raised at any time, and the team lead listens carefully and helps the owner spec them into tickets in the issue tracker, and consider their priority. at the start of the next 2 week sprint cycle the owner and team lead and team sit together and agree on what is the highest priority, and how much work to attempt to commit to.<p>All that said<p>> Any discussion about prioritization he takes as challenging his authority, and becomes upset and dismissive<p>this is not a positive sign. it is usually a good idea to be interviewing and cultivating other opportunities for work. if you are early in your career and now have a bit of experience, you might also get a decent pay rise out of it. consider joining an org that isn't a startup -- some mature small/medium business, or a larger org that has a more professional work culture and has some understanding of management.