Eisenhower app? Would you use it? How would you use it?

Once someone had 99 problems, but one wasn't. Why was that one problem deleted? At least, assuming they were using the Eisenhower Matrix to determine the priority of tasks.

What about those other 99? They seem like pretty overwhelming tasks, and they can't be dealt with simultaneously. Should they be delegated, scheduled or done right away? The Eisenhower Matrix provides a decision-making model that helps you assess your outstanding tasks. That deleted problem was deemed unnecessary and without a deadline, and merely a distraction. How was that conclusion reached, and can that be quantified and made objective?

Avoid being deleted!

Set a Deadline. With no deadline set, the project's priority will be lower than those that do have one.

Demonstrate the urgency of the situation. Time and risk play crucial roles: if I do not complete a task by a specified deadline, negative consequences will occur. To establish a task as time-critical, be aware of the task's duration, the deadline, and the potential consequences of not completing it before the deadline.

Determine the value. If completing this task has no value associated with it, why bother? Does this always have to be a financial value? Some may not have a direct monetary value, but they are used to unlock something that does. Capture that with parent-child, dependency project relations and potential risk cost.

Show the importance. Value and contribution to longer-term success. You need to communicate and know what success looks like to you, your project and your organisation. These could be customer delighters that keep them with you, or just things you have to do to keep the lights on, which serve the same purpose.

What to do practically?

Set a milestone and establish a deadline for specific tasks, even if the exact deadline is uncertain. Ideally, work backwards from the deadline of a related parent or dependent project.

In FinStarty, you will receive alerts on projects if a child project or essential task exceeds the target date of its parent or dependent project, emphasising the urgency of the task. If you wanted to launch a new website in December, you should have the scope signed off by September (actual dates vary!). If that sign-off doesn't happen, the system will send you alerts until the situation is resolved.

For child projects, value, if the blog and website aim to achieve a certain number of monthly impressions by the end of the year, it's crucial to publish this post in advance to help complete that project, which has an expected financial reward.

The purpose of creating impressions is to generate interest from individuals who want greater structure for their projects. This engagement can lead them to start with the free tier and eventually become paying customers. Linking content marketing to the sales funnel is linking to value.

If the blog performs well, we may develop tools that support the ideas presented, which could enhance the overall value, importance, and urgency related to our goals. Delaying the release of the post by another month or two would then incur an opportunity cost.

Apply labels using metrics

How to place and show tasks and projects in quadrants? We could implement a simple label and apply an "urgent" or "important" tag directly. Alternatively, we could set up rules, default or customisable.

Label considerations

• Review Timeframe
• Justification statement
• Who gets to manage them?

Rules Considerations

• How would value transfer to child projects
• Risk costs
• Risk likelihood
• Opportunity costs

Deleting Tasks

• Opportunity lapsed timeframe

Benefits of the Matrix

Effectively communicate the value and urgency of projects by highlighting their expected financial contribution, or risk reduction, either in costs/likelihood upon completion. This clarity makes it easier to convey the importance of any given project to stakeholders.

Considerations of the Matrix

How is one task more urgent or important than the other? Honestly, the matrix doesn't account for this. Instead, it needs to be limited to or scoped in some way to organisations, teams, individuals, and also to time frames, such as this week, month, or year. Without some automation or having time dedicated to plotting out the projects at set intervals, any matrix will become obsolete rapidly. Length of projects relative to deadlines seems like the place to start, in terms of urgency.

Next Steps

There is potential to develop a tool, but careful consideration of the specifications is essential before its creation. The essential requirements must include defining the matrix's scope.