Eisenhower Method - Matrix Decision Method-Covey Matrix Decision

[Contro]

Do you know a free software for :
1. Urgent and Important – 1st Priority

2. Not Urgent but Important – 2nd Priority

3. Urgent but Not Important – 3rd Priority

4. Not Urgent and Not Important – 4th Priority

for windows 8.1

Best Regards
 

[wraith808]

dont really know, but doing a quick search, i came across this link that might be helpful

https://www.quora.co...me-management-system

specifically this software : http://weekplan.net

[IainB]

@Contro: Cross-posted from:
Re: Anti-procrastination Hacks: Dynamic Unordered Todo List

...It just brought home to me the fact that the name of the game is not "what to do" but "what not to do."
So the main problem is the quality of the judgement involved in prioritising. It's all too well to capture, list and order all tasks. But the main issue is to decide what to do now, today, by making very painful decisions about what not to do, temporarily, and most likely permanently. ...
_________________________________

-dr_andus (July 02, 2017, 05:36 AM)

Yes, an elementary truth that is not always easy to perceive.

The solution that I learned from a book on time management (I forget its title - I had borrowed it from a friend and returned it), some years ago, was to categorise/prioritise tasks into permutations of Urgency (criticality) and Importance:
A - Urgent and Important.
B - Not Urgent, but Important.
C - Neither Urgent nor Important.

A, B and C are mutually exclusive. Cs may become Bs and Bs may become As. Misjudged As can be demoted to Bs, but it seems unlikely that Bs will become Cs, unless one is working in total chaos.
This scheme disregards the logical 4th permutation: Urgent, but Not Important as it is a nonsense.
This scheme seems to have been based on The Eisenhower Method, which uses the concept of Immediacy (to express Urgency).

The way to work the ABC prioritisation is to concentrate on what is Urgent or likely to become Urgent - actioning the As first, maybe picking up some Bs as one goes along (if a B synchronises with the As and is likely to become Urgent and is not a diversion), but otherwise leave the Bs till you have some slack/delay time whilst/after doing the As (remember, Bs are Not Urgent - right?).

The Cs are just ignored until they become Important, and, if they never become Important, then they never need to be actioned and can safely be deleted after a while.

I have coached others in the use of this ABC scheme, and it has saved my sanity and that of those I have coached. I recall one particular incident where I coached one of the systems engineers who reported to me - a really able and intelligent guy who was in his first job. I noticed that he was having great difficulty doing all his work and was rushing around like a mad thing. After having a chat with him, I saw the problem immediately. After my coaching him on the ABC method (he picked it up in a flash), he went away and started to rigorously apply it. I had asked him to report back to me on progress after 2 days, and he did. He was overjoyed, being now on top of his work and he knew exactly what his priorities were. He thanked me profusely and said that, though he liked his job, he had been on the point of resigning as he felt like he was just being overworked beyond his coping limit. He was amazed how that simple method had changed his whole outlook on work and made his life bearable and more enjoyable.
He was able to gain a sense of achievement from the knowledge that he had the power to control his workflow and focus on doing a good job by addressing the priorities.

I originally had a simple paper-based system for the prioritised tasklists, but I later made it computer-based on a nifty relational database PIM for managing text records (Lotus Agenda). I could look at (say) all the As together, and make progress notes about them and flag them as "Done" when they had been completed (the date of setting the "Done" flag was automatically recorded), and then review the Bs to see if any warranted action or upgrading to As, and make notes about them also. I would ignore the Cs unless some event had raised the priority of one of them.

This system was easily replicated to a greater extent using the PIM InfoSelect v8, but that has become legacy software (does not run perfectly on Win10-64bit PCs) and I have now replicated it to a lesser extent by using @mouser's CHS (ClipboardHelp&Spell), which is quite versatile. I found I could extend its versatility by using the CHS Virtual Folders functionality and making fuller notes (where necessary) in MS Office OneNote - with CHS as a kind of front-end to that. It's a bit kludgy, but it works.
If the NoteFrog beta had not been prematurely pulled, I would probably have migrated from CHS to that by now, because NoteFrog was designed as a PIM, whereas CHS is not (though it originally was).

This does not mean that using CHS for the ABC scheme is not a good, workable idea - as I have proven for myself. It got even better for this purpose when the automatic SQL generator was built-in (and especially when that later had its bugs fixed). That made the CHS Virtual Folders functionality much more effective.   

[IainB]

@Contro: I cross-posted the above in case you might not have seen it. I would stress some salient points following on from that:

• Redundancy:
  

  ...It just brought home to me the fact that the name of the game is not "what to do" but "what not to do."
  So the main problem is the quality of the judgement involved in prioritising. It's all too well to capture, list and order all tasks. But the main issue is to decide what to do now, today, by making very painful decisions about what not to do, temporarily, and most likely permanently. ...
  _________________________________
  

  -dr_andus (July 02, 2017, 05:36 AM)

  
  
• Non-priorities:
  "This scheme disregards the logical 4th permutation: Urgent, but Not Important as it is a nonsense."
  However, note the idea that:
  

  "Unimportant/Urgent quadrant are delegated[12] e.g. interruptions, meetings, activities.[11]" - Wikipedia - Time management.
  

  
  
• Driving force:
  The user is the driving force. The ToDo list is a tool. Don't let the tool become the master.
  

  Elimination of non-priorities
  Time management also covers how to eliminate tasks that do not provide value to the individual or organization.
  According to Sandberg,[26] task lists "aren't the key to productivity [that] they're cracked up to be". He reports an estimated "30% of listers spend more time managing their lists than [they do] completing what's on them".
  Hendrickson asserts[27] that rigid adherence to task lists can create a "tyranny of the to-do list" that forces one to "waste time on unimportant activities". - Wikipedia - Time management.
  

  (Interestingly, one could have observed this principle in operation in computer systems - e.g., when testing some of the early IBM DB2 transaction-queuing algorithms - under some load circumstances the queue could never be completed because the overly-sophisticated algorithm ended up in a bind where it was perpetually re-arranging the priorities. So it just "hung".)
  

Some relevant software: (essentially, most freeform databases or wikis would probably do).

• Lotus Agenda (DOS-based, highly-sophisticated freeform text database). Freeware (Released into the public domain by IBM).
• CHS (Clipboard Help and Spell) - a sophisticated Clipboard Manager, using a database. Donationware.
• InfoSelect - PIM/Freeform Database (a fairly sophisticated and flexible PIM). Paid software.
• InfoBase - PIM/Freeform Database (a text-based PIM, similar to the original InfoSelect.) Freeware.
• InfoQube - PIM/Freeform Database (a fairly sophisticated and flexible PIM; also includes Gantt-type planning, by default.) Paid software.
• See also software listed at:
   - Wikipedia - Getting Things Done
   - Wikipedia - Time management
  

[tomos]

I later made it computer-based on a nifty relational database PIM for managing text records (Lotus Agenda). I could look at (say) all the As together, and make progress notes about them and flag them as "Done" when they had been completed (the date of setting the "Done" flag was automatically recorded), and then review the Bs to see if any warranted action or upgrading to As, and make notes about them also.

-IainB (July 15, 2017, 10:38 PM)

I'm not well up on relational databases, but see that Pierre has just created a sample file for using InfoQube (IQ) as a relational database:

IQ as a Relational Database: Book Review Process

InfoQube is not a relational database, this, by-design. Using a number of features however, it can handle tasks which are traditionally handled by relational database systems.

http://www.sqlnotes....ndex.php?q=node/3962

Can be discussed here (IQ forums) or just here I'm sure, (but have yet to look closer at it myself).

[Contro]

dont really know, but doing a quick search, i came across this link that might be helpful

https://www.quora.co...me-management-system

specifically this software : http://weekplan.net

-wraith808 (July 15, 2017, 08:45 PM)

Running to try. I will comment.
Best Regards
 

[Contro]

dont really know, but doing a quick search, i came across this link that might be helpful

https://www.quora.co...me-management-system

specifically this software : http://weekplan.net

-wraith808 (July 15, 2017, 08:45 PM)

I don't like just because are online tools. You need an active internet connection.
proofhub is a SAAS, and accountsight.

[Contro]

@Contro: I cross-posted the above in case you might not have seen it. I would stress some salient points following on from that:

• Redundancy:
  

  ...It just brought home to me the fact that the name of the game is not "what to do" but "what not to do."
  So the main problem is the quality of the judgement involved in prioritising. It's all too well to capture, list and order all tasks. But the main issue is to decide what to do now, today, by making very painful decisions about what not to do, temporarily, and most likely permanently. ...
  _________________________________
  

  -dr_andus (July 02, 2017, 05:36 AM)

  
  
• Non-priorities:
  "This scheme disregards the logical 4th permutation: Urgent, but Not Important as it is a nonsense."
  However, note the idea that:
  

  "Unimportant/Urgent quadrant are delegated[12] e.g. interruptions, meetings, activities.[11]" - Wikipedia - Time management.
  

  
  
• Driving force:
  The user is the driving force. The ToDo list is a tool. Don't let the tool become the master.
  

  Elimination of non-priorities
  Time management also covers how to eliminate tasks that do not provide value to the individual or organization.
  According to Sandberg,[26] task lists "aren't the key to productivity [that] they're cracked up to be". He reports an estimated "30% of listers spend more time managing their lists than [they do] completing what's on them".
  Hendrickson asserts[27] that rigid adherence to task lists can create a "tyranny of the to-do list" that forces one to "waste time on unimportant activities". - Wikipedia - Time management.
  

  (Interestingly, one could have observed this principle in operation in computer systems - e.g., when testing some of the early IBM DB2 transaction-queuing algorithms - under some load circumstances the queue could never be completed because the overly-sophisticated algorithm ended up in a bind where it was perpetually re-arranging the priorities. So it just "hung".)
  

Some relevant software: (essentially, most freeform databases or wikis would probably do).

• Lotus Agenda (DOS-based, highly-sophisticated freeform text database). Freeware (Released into the public domain by IBM).
• CHS (Clipboard Help and Spell) - a sophisticated Clipboard Manager, using a database. Donationware.
• InfoSelect - PIM/Freeform Database (a fairly sophisticated and flexible PIM). Paid software.
• InfoBase - PIM/Freeform Database (a text-based PIM, similar to the original InfoSelect.) Freeware.
• InfoQube - PIM/Freeform Database (a fairly sophisticated and flexible PIM; also includes Gantt-type planning, by default.) Paid software.
• See also software listed at:
   - Wikipedia - Getting Things Done
   - Wikipedia - Time management
  

-IainB (July 16, 2017, 12:04 AM)

this seems and important and deeply discussion but I don't have a clear answer.
By example I tried InfoBase but I don't see the decision matrix anywhere .

At the present moment I have located four excel options and a simple pdf option.

[Contro]

[ Invalid Attachment ][ Invalid Attachment ][ Invalid Attachment ][ Invalid Attachment ]

I am not thinking in this method as the usual one or more general, only for aspects or setting certain problems to be solved in a week

When we have 500 tasks along the years may be better ToDoList or my CRM Goldmine.
This is an alternative to make clear my mind under certain tasks.

I hope so...


Note : Sorry I have to modify this post because I can't attach the xlsx, xls and pdf .

 




Owwww. I don't get to upload a zip or rar file. I don't know what I am doing bad.
 

[Contro]

Trying again to upload a rar or zip


above goes attachthumb=1 but i see nothing !
 

[Ath]

above goes attachthumb=1 but i see nothing !

-Contro (July 16, 2017, 04:49 AM)

Do not try to display a zip or rar attachment, the forum won't know how to display it, just attach it and it'll be shown below the text of the post

[Contro]

pugh-decision-matrix-template.xls.
You cannot upload that type of file. The only allowed extensions are txt,jpg,jpeg,gif,mpg,png,zip,rar,7z,ahk,fbs,mov,avi,mpg,rm,exe,mid,mp3,wav,grid,opml,tgz,gz,xml,ini,alias,wma,ogg,xz,pdf,apk,wmv,mp4,asf,webp,webm.

[Contro]

Ajáaaaa !!!!!!!

[dr_andus]

Frank Degenaar discusses it in his book how to use the Eisenhower matrix in WorkFlowy:

#8 WorkFlowy - Prioritize Your Brain | Time Management

[IainB]

@tomos: You mentioned, in the context of Lotus Agenda (I had called it a "relational database"):

...I'm not well up on relational databases, but see that Pierre has just created a sample file for using InfoQube (IQ) as a relational database:
___________________________

-tomos (July 16, 2017, 02:11 AM)

My apologies for being imprecise: I actually don't know for sure whether Lotus Agenda was a pukka relational database, but it seemed to me - as a user - that it worked as one. I would love to reverse engineer the thing and see how it ticked. It was way ahead of its time and I've yet to see anything else quite like it. From memory, the thing that made it easy and powerful to use as an ABC prioritisation tool was that it was a flexible free-form text database where the user could apply logical operations on variables in certain fields called "category".

Interesting what you write about InfoQube being able to emulate a relational database or something. Thanks for mentioning it. I shall go have a look-see.

[IainB]

@Contro:

this seems and important and deeply discussion but I don't have a clear answer.
By example I tried InfoBase but I don't see the decision matrix anywhere .

At the present moment I have located four excel options and a simple pdf option.
___________________________

-Contro (July 16, 2017, 04:29 AM)

I didn't mean for it to be "important" or "deep". I was probably labouring the point that one can waste an inordinate amount of time mucking about with ABC priority lists, when in actual fact they need to be simplified/rationalised if they are to be of any real, practical use.

I forgot to mention Excel as another potential tool for ABC prioritisation. I did mention CHS though, which is similarly useful. "Any free-form database".

By the way, I don't think one actually needs to "see the decision matrix anywhere". At any rate, I've never seen it in a software tool. What the tools do is enable you to view the As, Bs, Cs listed separately, and logically switch the tasks between those views (the priority categories A, B, and C are each mutually exclusive of the other two - i.e., a task can only logically be in one category at any given time). It doesn't even require a decision-tree, as the user makes the decision (by changing the priority flag to A or B or C).
ABC prioritisation is a very simple method. That's why you can readily apply it in (say) Excel spreadsheets or CHS grids (using virtual folders).

[ital2]

I haven't had time yet to read thru this fascinating thread, so please forgive my question if it has already been asked:

How many staff do you have, Contro?

Oh, and this isn't some sport of mine: It's common understanding now that this some president's method is inapplicable (/ over-illusionary) as a personal-organization policy ("time management" or whatever you call it) when most of the ToDo's execution needs bounce back upon you. But as said, probably I'm just replicating here what will alread have said above by others, then just do the Ath for once here.


EDIT: For once, no need to defend my stance: As said, common understanding. Phew!
And to clarify what I meant (@Contro, @IainB): Presidents (of some country or of large corporations) do NOT delegate, NO need for the "master" version of some groupware for them. Their surroundings do all the down-it-further distribution-delegation work (which supposes the identification of possible tasks to begin with, and with or without adequate software assistance)... and are in danger if they fail in their re-upping-up decisions too often. So, Eisenhower for Eisenhowers's only, "When should I muse about what?", incl., in today's world, which telephone calls should I accept why, and when to play golf with whom, but I digress. Btw, they're almost never left alone, so it's become a primarily virtual concept anyway.

[Contro]

I haven't had time to read thru this fascinating thread, so please forgive my question if it has already been asked:

How many staff do you have, Contro?

Oh, and this isn't some sport of mine: It's common understanding now that this some president's method is inapplicable (/ over-illusionary) as a personal-organization policy ("time management" or whatever you call it) when most of the ToDo's execution needs bounce back upon you. But as said, probably I'm just replicating here what will alread have said above by others, then just do the Ath for once here.

-ital2 (July 16, 2017, 07:46 AM)

Do you refer a number of people in a team ?

I don't use these programs for several people. Only one is the answer.

The most complicated cases may be with the biggest project divided into smaller projects. And it's easy.

 

[Contro]

@Contro:

this seems and important and deeply discussion but I don't have a clear answer.
By example I tried InfoBase but I don't see the decision matrix anywhere .

At the present moment I have located four excel options and a simple pdf option.
___________________________

-Contro (July 16, 2017, 04:29 AM)

I didn't mean for it to be "important" or "deep". I was probably labouring the point that one can waste an inordinate amount of time mucking about with ABC priority lists, when in actual fact they need to be simplified/rationalised if they are to be of any real, practical use.

I forgot to mention Excel as another potential tool for ABC prioritisation. I did mention CHS though, which is similarly useful. "Any free-form database".

By the way, I don't think one actually needs to "see the decision matrix anywhere". At any rate, I've never seen it in a software tool. What the tools do is enable you to view the As, Bs, Cs listed separately, and logically switch the tasks between those views (the priority categories A, B, and C are each mutually exclusive of the other two - i.e., a task can only logically be in one category at any given time). It doesn't even require a decision-tree, as the user makes the decision (by changing the priority flag to A or B or C).
ABC prioritisation is a very simple method. That's why you can readily apply it in (say) Excel spreadsheets or CHS grids (using virtual folders).

-IainB (July 16, 2017, 07:29 AM)

When I use the CRM I obtain commands jumping to be resolved. I am not using the projects manager with goldmine. I began to use something "similar" with ToDoList a few weeks ago and is pretty enough for me. If I am in a "state of confusion" I prefer Portable Kanban. In special cases I prefer the decision matrix.

But i am not the happy perfect man because I continue having doubts everyday.
 

[Contro]

Frank Degenaar discusses it in his book how to use the Eisenhower matrix in WorkFlowy:

#8 WorkFlowy - Prioritize Your Brain | Time Management

-dr_andus (July 16, 2017, 07:01 AM)

Wonderful !

[Contro]

Eisenhower Method - Matrix Decision Method-Covey Matrix DecisionI have found a trial I used some time ago . The web don't exists already.

AgileEra Personal Motivation Calendar.
Sometimes I had used under virtual machine. I have many virtual machines with virtualbox !!!!!
AgileEra

[IainB]

@ital2:

I haven't had time to read thru this fascinating thread, so please forgive my question if it has already been asked:

How many staff do you have, Contro?
____________________________

-ital2 (July 16, 2017, 07:46 AM)

Given that question, I'm not sure whether you realise it, but the Eisenhower (ABC) method is solely intended for personal task management, so is not applicable to groups.
I have coached staff reporting to me in how to use the ABC method, but once they had learned it they simply got on with using it, independently and with no further need of my input.
One would generally use something like a Gantt or PERT planning tool (e.g., MS Project) to plan and manage the allocation of human (time/skills) and other resources to a project - unless one subscribed to the "Agile" ideology/methodology, which doesn't really focus on planning per se.

[wraith808]

dont really know, but doing a quick search, i came across this link that might be helpful

https://www.quora.co...me-management-system

specifically this software : http://weekplan.net

-wraith808 (July 15, 2017, 08:45 PM)

I don't like just because are online tools. You need an active internet connection.
proofhub is a SAAS, and accountsight.

-Contro (July 16, 2017, 02:47 AM)

http://weekplan.net/apps/

Though you are correct- you do need an online connection.

[Shades]

This link should show you a really big overview from all different kinds of applications that you can host yourself...as in on your own computer (if you have a web-server installed there), on a computer in your home network (if you have a web-server installed there) or on your own website/domain.

For the first two options, you could use software like: XAMPP  (free, comes with the Apache web-server, PHP and MySQL database) There are many alternatives for XAMPP, take a look in this forum, as many have suggested alternatives or look for those on website: AlternativeTo.

With XAMPP or any of its alternatives, the following must apply: make sure that all the ports they require are available to them. Normally this should not be a problem, but if you happen to use Skype on the computer you plan to use as your internal web-server, port 80 is often claimed. Port 80 is the port web-servers require and it is best that you kill all running Skype processes completely and after the web-server has started successfully, simply restart Skype. Now your web-server and Skype work peacefully next to one other.

Some general information you should take into account when going through this list:
All these applications come with manuals on how to install them. Do not expect the DC crowd to know about any of these applications or how you should install them. Sure, the DC crowd can make very educated guesses, but you should go through their manuals first and ask on their forums about any problem you might encounter.

Also, it is possible that you find your ideal application can only be used on a Linux-based web-server. You seem to know how VMs work, so create one, preferably using a Linux server distribution, like Ubuntu Server, Debian, CentOS or OpenSuse. Whichever you prefer. Personally, I like Ubuntu Server 16 LTS, but the others are great as well. If you can, do not install any GUI system. This way you don't need to allocate much of your RAM to it.

Once you have created such a VM, start it and access it by using the SmarTTY software in your Windows installation (I use the portable version myself). Think of this software as a supercharged Putty in functionality. Any instruction in the (online) manual(s) you see in Windows can be easily copy-pasted into the SmarTTY session you have opened to your Linux VM. And that makes it much easier to manage a Linux server. To top it off, install in this VM the WebMin software. That will give you the option to fully manage this Linux server through your browser, so you really have no need for a GUI.

By keeping your VM this lean, you can get away with allocating only 4 to 8 GByte of storage space, between 512MByte to 1 GByte of RAM and only the bare minimum of video memory. You will hardly notice that this VM is running on your host computer.

With all of the above, you should be able to start on the journey of finding the self-hosted application(s) that suit your workflow best.

[wraith808]

Great resource there Shades.  Thanks for that.  But I don't think it was self-hosted vs SaaS that was the focus of Contro's query, but more what good software application fulfilled the Eisenhower method.  It just happened to come up with my recommendation.