Eisenhower matrix: tell urgent from important

When to use it

• You spend your days dealing with urgent matters.
• Your task list is too long to handle everything.
• You need to prioritise together with the team.

How to do it, step by step

1. List all your current tasks.
2. For each one, ask: is it urgent? is it important?
3. Urgent and important: do it now.
4. Important but not urgent: schedule it (this is where long-term results are made).
5. Urgent but not very important: delegate. Neither: drop it.

Example

A blocking production bug is urgent and important. Preparing the team's training is important but not urgent: you schedule it. Replying to a cold sales email is neither.

In FluidOps

In FluidOps' “Other tools” tab, fill in the board with your team, save it and export it as PNG or PDF.

Try it in FluidOps →

Going further

• The Eisenhower Matrix Through the Lens of Psychology: The Urgency Trap
• The Zeigarnik Effect and the To-Do List: How to Free Your Mind from Project Stress

Same family

• 5 Whys
• Ishikawa diagram
• Pre-mortem
• RACI matrix
• All methods
• Start from your problem: which tool for which problem?