Ọnà Iṣakoso Iṣẹ́ àti Ìṣe ti ara ẹni

Getting Things Done (GTD)

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a task‑management method that turns scattered inputs into a trusted system of next actions through five core steps: capture, clarify, organize, reflect and engage. It’s designed to free mental space so you can focus on doing the right work at the right time.

Next Actions

A Next Action is the very next, concrete step you can take to move a task or project forward. It removes ambiguity by turning vague intentions into a single, doable action.

Capture Habit

A capture habit is the routine of immediately recording ideas, reminders or tasks into a trusted external system so your brain can stop holding them. It’s about low-friction collection—get thoughts out quickly so you can focus on doing the work later.

Weekly Review

A Weekly Review is a short, scheduled ritual—typically done once a week—to collect loose thoughts, clarify outstanding items, update projects and decide the top priorities for the coming week.

Daily Review

A short, regular ritual—usually daily—where you scan tasks, calendar events and priorities to decide what to actually do next. It turns scattered obligations into a clear, manageable plan for the day.

Someday/Maybe List

A Someday/Maybe list is a holding place for ideas, projects and wishes you might pursue later — not immediate tasks but things you don’t want to forget. It frees your short-term task list from low-priority or uncertain items while keeping them discoverable.

Contexts

In task management, contexts are labels or cues that describe the situation, tool, location, energy level, or person required to complete a task. They let you filter and batch actions so you do the right work at the right time and place.

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management method that breaks work into short, focused intervals (traditionally 25 minutes) separated by brief breaks to boost focus and reduce burnout.

Time Blocking

Time blocking is a scheduling method that assigns specific chunks of time to particular tasks or activity types, protecting focused work by planning when you’ll do each thing. It turns a to‑do list into a calendar of intentional work periods to reduce switching and decision fatigue.

Timeboxing

Timeboxing is a planning technique that allocates fixed, named blocks of time to specific tasks or activities. Instead of working until something is finished, you commit to working on it only during its assigned slot.

Eisenhower Matrix

A simple prioritisation tool that sorts tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance, helping you decide what to do now, schedule, delegate, or drop. It’s often used to reduce decision fatigue and focus on what truly moves the needle.

Priority Matrix

A Priority Matrix is a simple four-quadrant tool that helps you sort tasks by urgency and importance so you can decide what to do, schedule, delegate, or drop. It turns fuzzy to-dos into clear actions, reducing decision friction and wasted effort.

Most Important Tasks (MITs)

Most Important Tasks (MITs) are the one to three tasks you identify as highest priority for a day — the items you commit to finishing before anything else. They help cut through overwhelm by narrowing focus to what truly moves you forward.

Rule of Three

The Rule of Three is a simple prioritisation habit: pick three meaningful tasks to focus on in a given timeframe (day, week, or project) so you make steady progress without overwhelm.

Kanban

Kanban is a visual workflow method that represents work as cards moving across columns (e.g., To Do → Doing → Done) to make progress and bottlenecks visible. It helps teams and individuals optimise flow and limit multitasking.

Personal Kanban

Personal Kanban is a simple, visual method for managing work using a board (physical or digital) divided into columns like "To Do," "Doing," and "Done." It helps you limit work‑in‑progress and focus on flow so tasks move steadily to completion.

Work In Progress (WIP) Limits

Work In Progress (WIP) limits are explicit caps on how many tasks you allow yourself to be actively working on at the same time. They reduce multitasking and help teams and individuals finish more by doing less at once.

Swimlanes

Swimlanes are horizontal lanes on a board or workspace that group tasks by category (owner, project, context or time), running across the usual workflow columns so you can see parallel streams of work at a glance.

Backlog Management

Backlog management is the practice of capturing, organising and maintaining all uncompleted tasks, ideas and requests in a single place so they can be reviewed and prioritised later. It keeps your active to-do list focused by moving everything else into a trusted holding area.

Scrumban

Scrumban is a hybrid workflow method that blends Scrum’s short, iterative planning with Kanban’s continuous flow and visual work limits to manage projects more flexibly. It gives teams—and solo workers—a lightweight structure for prioritising, limiting work-in-progress, and improving processes over time.

Personal Scrum

Personal Scrum is a simplified, solo-friendly adaptation of agile Scrum that applies short, timeboxed sprints, a prioritized backlog, brief daily check-ins, and quick reviews to individual work and life tasks. It’s a lightweight ritual to turn scattered to-dos into focused, measurable progress.

Personal Stand-up

A short, regular self-check ritual where an individual reviews priorities, energy and blockers to decide the single most important things to do next. It’s a mini daily meeting with yourself designed to cut decision fatigue and keep momentum.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of a project into smaller, manageable pieces or work packages. It organizes deliverables and tasks so teams (or individuals) can estimate, assign, and track progress more reliably.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that maps project tasks against time, showing when work starts, how long it lasts, and how tasks relate. It’s a visual schedule used to plan, coordinate and track progress across a project.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a project-planning technique that identifies the sequence of dependent tasks that determines the minimum time needed to complete a project. By highlighting that "critical path," CPM shows which tasks cannot be delayed without delaying the whole project.

Milestone Planning

Milestone planning breaks a larger project into a sequence of measurable checkpoints — key moments that mark progress toward a goal. It helps you focus effort, track momentum, and know when to adjust course.

Task Chunking

Task chunking is the practice of breaking a large or vague task into smaller, clear, time-bounded actions so each step is easy to start and finish. It reduces overwhelm and makes consistent progress more likely.

Microtasks

Microtasks are very small, single-action work items—bite-sized steps you can finish quickly to make progress without planning friction. They help turn vague intentions into immediate, doable actions.

Batch Processing

Batch processing is the practice of grouping similar tasks and handling them in dedicated time blocks to minimise context switching and decision fatigue. It converts scattered, interrupt-driven work into predictable, focused sessions.

Single-Tasking

Single-tasking is the deliberate practice of focusing on one task at a time until it reaches a natural pause or completion. It contrasts with multitasking and is used to reduce switching costs, distractions, and mental clutter.

Flowtime Method

The Flowtime Method is a flexible time-management approach that encourages working in natural, uninterrupted focus sessions and logging their lengths and interruptions to learn your personal rhythm. Unlike strict timers, it adapts to how you actually concentrate and rest.

Two-Minute Rule

The Two-Minute Rule says: if a task will take two minutes or less, do it immediately instead of deferring it. It’s a quick decision strategy for clearing small tasks and reducing mental clutter.

Tickler File

A tickler file is a time-based reminder system that stores notes, documents and tasks in date-labelled folders so items reappear exactly when you need them. It’s a low-effort way to defer things without forgetting them.

Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. It highlights how open-ended deadlines and ample time can lead to procrastination, over-polishing, or unnecessary complexity.

Pareto Principle (80/20)

The Pareto Principle—often called the 80/20 rule—says that a small portion of causes, inputs or efforts typically produce the largest share of results. In productivity, it helps you focus on the minority of tasks that drive the majority of impact.

Time Audit

A Time Audit is a short, intentional review of how you actually spend time over a set period. It captures where hours go so you can realign your routine with your priorities and energy patterns.

Energy Management

Energy management is the practice of organising work and life around your mental, physical and emotional energy levels rather than only around clock time. It focuses on matching tasks to when you’re most capable and on replenishing energy to sustain focus and motivation.

Buffer Management

Buffer management is the practice of intentionally scheduling short gaps between tasks and commitments to absorb overruns, allow mental recovery, and make daily plans more reliable. It turns a rigid calendar into a resilient one that tolerates interruptions and preserves focus.

Slack Time

Slack time is intentionally scheduled breathing room between tasks or calendar events to absorb overruns, transitions and small interruptions. It prevents schedules from becoming brittle and reduces decision fatigue.

Dependency Mapping

Dependency mapping is the practice of identifying and visualising how tasks rely on one another, showing which tasks must finish before others can start and which can run in parallel. It turns a flat to‑do list into a network that makes sequencing, prioritisation and risk visible.

Critical Chain

Critical Chain is a project scheduling method that protects deadlines by focusing on resource availability and adding time buffers to absorb uncertainty. It reduces multitasking and keeps projects predictable by managing where safety time is stored and how people are scheduled.

Little's Law

Little's Law links the average number of items in a system (work‑in‑progress) to how fast items are completed (throughput) and how long they take (lead time): WIP = Throughput × Lead Time. It’s a simple, practical rule from queueing theory used to predict flow in processes.

Lead Time

Lead time is the amount of advance time required to prepare for and complete a task before its deadline. In personal productivity, it tells you when you need to start so the work finishes on time without a last-minute rush.

Throughput

Throughput is the rate at which work items are completed over a given time period. In knowledge work, it measures how many tasks, tickets or projects you finish (not just start).

Estimation: T-Shirt Sizing

T-shirt sizing is a quick, relative estimation method that labels tasks by size (XS, S, M, L, XL) to indicate effort, complexity or time. It trades numeric precision for speed and shared understanding, helping teams or individuals prioritise without overthinking estimates.

Planning Poker

Planning Poker is a collaborative estimation method where participants privately choose a numeric value for a task and reveal simultaneously to surface differences, drive discussion, and reach a consensus on relative effort or complexity. It’s commonly used in agile teams but adapts well for any group deciding priorities or estimates.

MoSCoW Prioritization

MoSCoW Prioritization is a simple framework that sorts work into four buckets — Must, Should, Could, and Won't — to clarify what to do now versus later or not at all. It makes trade-offs explicit so teams and individuals can focus on what truly matters.

SMART Goals

SMART Goals is a framework for writing clear, actionable objectives by making them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It turns vague intentions into concrete plans you can track and act on.

Pre-mortem

A pre-mortem is a short, forward-looking exercise where a team imagines a project has failed and then works backward to identify likely causes and prevent them. It flips post-mortem thinking onto the planning stage to surface hidden risks and assumptions.