Conclusion
The Calendar, Upkeep List and Project List form the core of the system. These three containers help organize the three types of tasks that emerged from observing how tasks are repeated; their recurrence and when they can be done; their opportunity window.
The opportunity window is narrow for scheduled tasks and wide for projects. Projects do not repeat themselves while upkeep tasks do and scheduled tasks may. The right container for a task is selected by following the following rules:
- Scheduled tasks, recurrent or not, go on the
Calendar
. - Non-recurrent tasks go on the
Project List
. - Recurrent tasks go on the
Upkeep List
.
graph LR
START[Task] --> IS_SCHEDULED{Is it scheduled?};
IS_SCHEDULED -->|Yes| SCHEDULE[Calendar];
IS_SCHEDULED -->|No| IS_RECURENT{Is it recurent?};
IS_RECURENT --> |Yes| UPKEEP[Upkeep List];
IS_RECURENT --> |No| PROJECTS[Projects List];
With each container comes an algorithm to select tasks to work on. Each day:
- Review the
Calendar
and select the scheduled tasks of the day. - Look ahead for upcoming events that may require preparation or influence your plans.
- Review the
Upkeep List
and select some mature tasks to be done. - Review the
Project List
and select projects to work on based on the age (oldest and newest), due date and priority.
The goal always being to avoid negative consequences without overspending resources.