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The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

bigthink.com

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Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#32

This is not a productivity hack. It is how you're supposed to do things. Indeed, it is how most people on Earth accomplish every single task in their life whether they realize it or not. I wish I was morally bankrupt enough to be a productivity guru. I could, like, charge $50k to stand behind a podium in a hotel ballroom and spout nonsense at desperate people in an attempt to get them to buy my book and planners. It…

> I wish I was morally bankrupt enough to be a productivity guru. I could, like, charge $50k to stand behind a podium in a hotel ballroom and spout nonsense at desperate people in an attempt to get them to buy my book and planners. It would be awesome.

Of course it’s your morals, and not that nobody in the whole world cares what “snakeyjake” wants to say about productivity.

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#33
I've moved on from a method like this to an even simpler one: Do The Most Important Thing Now.

It's usually completely obvious what the most important thing that I need to do is. And if it's not then I can ask other people around me and clarify. When that's done, The next Most Important Thing is obvious again.

Mostly this is about software product dev where The Most Important Thing is a feature or bug fix or something that's going to take a few hours at least. It's mainly about not shoving thousands of ideas into the Backlog where they will just never get done. Instead of a whole development plan that gets caught up in old assumptions and stale priorities, just Do The Most Important Thing Now and keep doing it. At some point The Most Important Thing will be shipping the product in time for the marketing event.

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#36
I use a simplified version, that doesn't require as much care in the planning phase:

1. Delegate as much as possible. 2. Alternate urgent and important tasks. 3. Once in a while do a "fun" task - something neither urgent, nor immediately important, but feels like it may have a payoff someday.

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there more information about this?

https://www.amazon.com/Eisenhower-in-War-and-Peace-audiobook...

Best productivity story from this book: a White House worker brings President Eisenhower a piece of unopened mail addressed to the President. Ike immediately says “No one should ever bring me a sealed envelope” and he drills into his team that nothing comes to the President unless it can’t be resolved at a lower level, and when it comes to him he needs to be briefed and presented with his staff’s best thinking and possible options.

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#38
post #10

This isn't really an Eisenhower thing. Eisenhower's approach, as both a general and president, was to assemble a very good staff and delegate, while monitoring how things were going. Staff, not line. Line managers in the military are unit commanders at various levels. Staff officers, derided though they tend to be, are extensions of the commander for whom they work. They have to be very competent but less ambitious t…

I'd like to submit Leslie Groves as another extremely gifted administrator who got big things done inside big organizations. There need to be more studies about his "methods".

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#39

Sounds a lot like making people more machine-like. I hate stuff like this. If we have to do stuff like this to "function" in the world, then we have already lost our humanity. Our world should not be so obsessed by productivity in the first place.

Is not machine like. It’s intentional.

The reason these things resonate is because they help us make the decisions we want to be making.

Re: The "Eisenhower matrix" productivity hack

#40

Sounds a lot like making people more machine-like. I hate stuff like this. If we have to do stuff like this to "function" in the world, then we have already lost our humanity. Our world should not be so obsessed by productivity in the first place.

Is not machine like. It’s intentional. The reason these things resonate is because they help us make the decisions we want to be making.

I disagree. I think it's more likely that technology itself is causing us to change our way of thinking, and we think we want to do this stuff but actually we are just resources for the machine.
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