On a good workday, the tasks at hand are straightforward. We know exactly what we’re doing and in what order. We allot the right amount of time to each task and finish them within their given time frames. Our completed list brings a sense of accomplishment. Everything we’ve done was worthwhile and contributed directly to our organizational vision.
These productive workdays aren’t an accident. With the right planning, we can create more of them.
The Eisenhower Matrix — also known as the “priority matrix” and “urgent/important matrix” — is a longstanding secret weapon of highly effective time managers. Identify your tasks and start prioritizing them.
Using the Eisenhower Matrix means your time management is more efficient.
Keep reading for more background and tips on using the matrix effectively. Learn how you and your team can get the most out of this classic time management method.
Why is it called an Eisenhower Matrix?
Meet the tried-and-true method of effective time managers.
I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower made these words famous in a 1954 speech at Northwestern University. He attributed them to a former Northwestern president. They are often cited as the guiding concept behind Eisenhower’s highly effective career. This “urgent vs. important” distinction became known as the “Eisenhower Principle.”
Stephen Covey later adapted this principle for his 1989 bestseller 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The third habit of highly effective people, according to Covey, is that they “put first things first.” Covey created a simple diagram to help his readers do this, sorting tasks into four categories according to urgency and importance. This time management tool became known as the Eisenhower Matrix.
Over 30 years later, the Eisenhower Matrix is still widely used. This is because Eisenhower and Covey made the same crucial observation: without realizing it, most of us tend to sacrifice the important for the urgent. This fuels a cycle of fixing critical issues rather than preventing them. We break this cycle by focusing on what’s important in the long term. “Important” projects and tasks are those that directly support our team’s overall vision. “Urgent” tasks are those we can’t avoid in the short term without serious consequences. Too many urgent tasks keep us busy but short-sighted.
Minimizing urgency over the long run keeps your team effective. Prioritizing your tasks on an Eisenhower Matrix can help you manage this crucial process.
What are the benefits of the Eisenhower Matrix?
This tool is for anyone who could use a little help with time management.
For most of us, to-do lists are the front line of time management. They reassure us that we won’t miss anything, and checking off tasks lets us visualize our progress. A completed list reassures us that we’ve been productive.
But sometimes we stare at our completed list in dismay. We’ve been busy, but were we effective? Did we make real progress or just check the boxes? What do we do when our to-do lists create stress?
Often, to-do lists pull us in several directions at once. There are tasks we dislike and tend to put off, but they make us anxious until they’re accomplished. Then there are problems we feel we need to address immediately, but we know half the day will be spent just taking care of these tasks. There are also the urgent tasks we agreed to take on ourselves, either because we worry others won’t do them right or we’re afraid delegating them means not pulling our weight.
Adding tasks we think we can handle can have us running in circles before we’ve even finished our morning coffee. If this feels relatable, the Eisenhower Matrix can help. Sort your to-do list using this method before you start work each day. Invest 10-15 minutes prioritizing your day’s tasks. Commit to this process for a full workweek; it will become faster and easier with practice.
The Eisenhower Matrix prioritizes tasks according to urgency and importance. This gives you a clear path forward for the workday and helps identify the root causes of stress and overwhelm.
How do I use an Eisenhower Matrix?
Follow our simple guide to get the most out of this valuable tool.
The Eisenhower Matrix is straightforward and adaptable, perfect for prioritizing tasks in any area of life. Follow this 4-step process to maximize its benefits. Feel free to adapt these steps to fit your unique situation.
1. Do a quick pre-sort of your to-do list.
If your to-do list is long and jumbled, sort it out before you start.
- Individual vs. team: Consider your work tasks. Which are individual, and which require close collaboration? Are any of your or your team’s tasks dependent on others finishing something first? Sort individual tasks on a personal Eisenhower Matrix for your reference. Sort collaborative tasks on a matrix with your team.
- Broad vs. narrow: A casual to-do list can be a mix of projects and tasks. Your list may include projects like “fix the homepage on Client X’s website.” When possible, break bigger projects down into component tasks before mapping them on the matrix.
2. Sort your tasks on the Eisenhower Matrix to plan out your day.
Your individual work tasks are now in front of you, ready to be organized on the matrix. Do this in whatever order works best for you. You can start by identifying the “Eliminate” tasks or begin with the easily sorted ones and then tackle the more difficult ones. The important thing is that all your tasks make it into the diagram. Here’s how to sort them:
Do urgent and important tasks.
These tasks need to be finished today. If they’re not, bad things might happen. They’re also important for you to do yourself. Add anything that feels urgent and can’t be delegated.
Schedule important but not urgent tasks.
These are long-term work items that contribute directly to the organization’s success. They don’t need to be done today or even this week, but they do need to get done. When scheduled strategically, they won’t pile up in the “Do” field later on.
Delegate urgent but not important tasks.
“Not important” in this case means “not important for me to do.” The point of working in a team is not to do everything yourself. Ask what urgent tasks someone else could do and place them here.
Eliminate unimportant and non-urgent tasks.
Some things just aren’t worth doing. You may have pet projects (or find yourself tasked with other people’s pet projects). Some of these are distractions that don’t move the team forward. Add them to a personal project wishlist if you like, but keep them off your task list!
Once all your tasks are added to the matrix, you have a clear map of your next steps. If your organization uses Jira, you’re ready to create any necessary tasks.
3. Use the completed matrix to reflect on your typical day at work.
Your Eisenhower Matrix is finished, and your tasks are prioritized and delegated. Now, your completed matrix has more to tell you. Time management isn’t just about daily task sorting. Treat the matrix as a valuable snapshot of your workday.
How does this snapshot make you feel? What percentage of your day will be spent on tasks in the “Do” field? Ideally, most tasks should be in the “Not urgent” column. This indicates you aren’t managing pressing concerns all day. You and your team are thinking ahead and keeping the big picture well organized. If this is the case, congratulations!
However, this is often not the case for various reasons. If your “Schedule” field is losing out to the “Urgent” column, take another look. Consider these scenarios and what they mean for your situation:
- Your “Do” list is overloaded. This could mean several things. Maybe your sense of urgency has taken over. Is there anything that can be moved to the “Schedule” list? If not, perhaps you’ve procrastinated or over-committed. Or there may be wider organizational reasons why so much is piling up here. Start asking hard questions. Why are you, and possibly your team, spending so much time in crisis mode?
- Your “Delegate” list is sparse. If your “Do” list is long and all items are truly important, why is this the case? Ask yourself if team processes have left you with too many tasks. Even if you’re the best person to do a given thing, there’s only so much time in a day. Others may not realize you’re overloaded unless you speak up. They have their own to-do lists to manage.
- Your “Eliminate” list is empty. Double-check your other categories. Are there tasks in the “Do” field you said yes to even though they weren’t important? Maybe you can’t get out of them today, since you already agreed. Can you politely say “no” next time?
During the workday, record the hours you spend on your “urgent” column items. How long did it take to do or delegate these? Did they spill over into the afternoon or the next day? Did they end up pushing back items in the “Schedule” field?
Of course, today may not be a typical workday. Try this routine for a whole workweek. On Friday, analyze your completed tasks and the time you spent on urgent work items. What are the trends? Try it for a month. Were you able to shift the balance away from the “Do” list by changing your work habits? If not, it may be time to implement broader strategies with your team.
4. Troubleshoot time management problems with your team.
You may be unpleasantly surprised to see how much of your day you spend on urgent tasks. You’re not alone. That’s why so many project management tools exist. Your team members may be struggling with the same issues. Use your Eisenhower Matrix experiment as a springboard for better project management.
Flexible, strategic long-term planning is central to the Eisenhower Principle and key to Agile team success. Try out these methods to keep your daily tasks aligned with the bigger picture (a.k.a. Eisenhower’s “important” things):
For current projects, use the Value Effort Matrix method to prioritize issues in your backlog. Optimize limited resources by eliminating tasks where the value isn’t worth the effort. Clear out the waste to get unwieldy projects back on track.
For future projects, try the Project Planning method. Define your goals and conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Discover which tasks are both important and feasible. Allocate resources strategically before the project begins to prevent wasting valuable time and effort.
Before you start a project, do a risk analysis to anticipate possible roadblocks. Proactively address known or likely issues before they become urgent problems, and create contingency plans for the less likely ones.
After a major project, run a slow-paced retrospective session with the Learning Matrix Retrospective. Give all stakeholders a chance to reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Use your learnings to optimize everyone’s to-do lists and eliminate unnecessary delays in the next project.
These are just a few suggestions to get you started. Practice good time management by ensuring all tasks are in front of your teammates by the end of each day, so they know what to work on first the next day.
To make sure your team stays focused on strategically valuable work, you’ll need visibility into your projects. The right apps can help you prioritize your work, assess team members' capacity, track progress to goals, and more. See how Appfire’s Agile Solution can help!
Put the Eisenhower Matrix to work for your team and see how focusing on important work transforms your results.