Since I don't often write raw SQL, I can only assume the author named their CTE `deleted_tasks` to elucidate that the query might delete multiple items. Otherwise, it makes little sense, for they intended to "pop" a single row, and yet their aptly named `deleted_tasks` ended up removing more than one!

The query reads to me like a conceptual mish-mash. Without understanding what the innermost `SELECT` was meant to accomplish, I'd naturally interpret the `WHERE id IN (...)` as operating on a set. But the most sacrilegious aspect is the inclusion of `FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED`. It assumes a very specific execution order that the query syntax doesn't actually enforce.

Am I right to think that not avoiding lock contention, i.e. omitting `SKIP LOCKED` would have actually produced the intended result?