Productivity methods and focus

Named methods for planning work and keeping your attention on one thing at a time.

A

Accountability partnerA person you agree to update regularly on a goal, so someone else knows what you said you'd do and asks how it went.

AgileA way of working, set out in the 2001 Agile Manifesto, that delivers in small pieces, gets feedback early and adjusts the plan as it learns.

Analysis paralysisOverthinking a decision so much that you can't make it, often because you keep gathering information or comparing options.

Attention residueThoughts about an earlier task that stay with you after you switch to a new one, leaving less attention for the work in front of you.

B

Backlog refinementThe ongoing Scrum activity of splitting Product Backlog items into smaller, clearer ones and adding details such as a description, order and size.

Body doublingDoing a task while another person is present, in the room or on a video call, so their company makes it easier to start and keep going.

Brain dumpWriting down everything on your mind, tasks, worries and ideas, in one sitting so you can sort it afterward instead of holding it in your head.

Brown noiseA steady background sound with most of its energy in the low frequencies, so it sounds deeper than white noise; some people play it to focus or sleep.

Bullet journalRyder Carroll's notebook method for tracking tasks, events and notes with short entries and symbols, organized into an index and daily, monthly and future logs.

Burndown chartA chart of the work left in a sprint or project against time, showing whether a team is on pace to finish by the end date.

C

Choice overloadThe finding that facing too many options can make people less likely to choose at all and less happy with the choice they make.

ChronotypeA person's natural lean toward earlier or later times for sleeping and being active, usually described as morning, evening or in between.

Commonplace bookA personal notebook of passages, quotations and ideas copied from what you read, filed under topic headings so you can find and reuse them.

Cornell notesA note-taking layout from Cornell's Walter Pauk that splits the page into a notes area, a cue column on the left and a summary at the bottom.

D

Daily scrumThe 15-minute Scrum event where the Developers meet each working day to check progress toward the Sprint Goal and adjust their plan.

Definition of doneIn Scrum, the formal description of the quality a piece of work must reach before it counts as part of the Increment.

Digital minimalismCal Newport's approach to technology: use only the apps and tools that clearly support what you value, and let the rest go.

Done is better than perfectA saying that urges you to finish and share work that's good enough rather than keep polishing it, known from a Facebook office poster Sheryl Sandberg described.

E

Eat the frogA time management rule from Brian Tracy's book Eat That Frog!: do your biggest, most important task first thing in the morning, before easier work.

Eisenhower matrixA four-box grid that sorts tasks by two questions, whether each is urgent and whether it's important, to decide what to do now and what to plan.

G

Getting Things DoneDavid Allen's productivity system, from his book Getting Things Done, for capturing everything on your mind and deciding the next action on each item.

H

Habit loopThe three-part pattern behind a habit, as described by Charles Duhigg: a cue that triggers it, the routine you do, and the reward that makes it stick.

Habit trackerA simple record, on paper or in an app, where you mark each day you do a habit so you can see your progress at a glance.

Hofstadter's lawDouglas Hofstadter's joke rule from his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: a task always takes longer than you expect, even after you allow for this rule.

I

Implementation intentionAn if-then plan that ties a goal to a specific moment: "If situation X happens, then I will do Y."

Inbox zeroAn email method from Merlin Mann's 2006 series on 43 Folders: work the inbox down to empty on a regular schedule and keep it that way.

K

Kanban boardA board split into columns for each stage of work, such as To Do, In Progress and Done, with a card for every task that moves across as the work advances.

Kanban vs ScrumA comparison of two agile approaches: Scrum works in fixed-length Sprints with set accountabilities, and Kanban manages a continuous flow of work with limits on work in progress.

Keystone habitA habit that tends to set off changes in other habits, such as regular exercise leading to better eating, as described by Charles Duhigg.

M

Mind mapA diagram with one topic in the center and branches radiating out to related ideas, each labeled with a keyword, used to plan, brainstorm or study.

MoSCoW methodA way to rank requirements or tasks into Must Have, Should Have, Could Have and Won't Have this time, used when a deadline is fixed and scope has to flex.

Multitasking mythThe mistaken belief that you can do several thinking tasks at once without cost; research finds switching between tasks slows people down and adds errors.

N

Note-taking methodsThe common ways to lay out notes from a class, meeting or reading, such as the Cornell, outline, mapping, charting and sentence methods.

O

OKRsObjectives and Key Results: a goal-setting method that pairs a clear objective with a few measurable results showing whether it was reached, usually set each quarter.

P

PARA methodTiago Forte's system for organizing notes and files into four folders: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives.

Pareto principleThe observation, also called the 80/20 rule, that a small share of causes produces most of the effect, such as a few tasks bringing most of the results.

PerfectionismHolding yourself or others to standards so high they can't be met, and judging yourself harshly when they aren't.

Planning fallacyThe tendency to underestimate how long a task will take, even when similar tasks have run late before.

Pomodoro techniqueA focus method that splits work into 25-minute rounds separated by short breaks, with a longer break after every four rounds.

ProcrastinationPutting off a task you intended to do, even though you expect the delay to leave you worse off, often to escape how the task makes you feel.

Product backlogIn Scrum, the ordered list of everything needed to improve a product, and the single source of work for the Scrum Team.

Product goalIn Scrum, the long-term objective for a product, a future state the team plans toward, kept in the Product Backlog as its commitment.

Product ownerThe one person on a Scrum Team accountable for maximizing the value of the product and for managing the Product Backlog, including the order of its items.

R

Rapid loggingThe Bullet Journal's shorthand: short entries marked with a dot for tasks, a circle for events and a dash for notes, plus symbols for priority and status.

S

SatisficingChoosing the first option that meets your standards instead of searching for the best one, a term coined by Nobel laureate Herbert Simon.

ScrumA lightweight framework, defined in the Scrum Guide, in which a small team delivers work in fixed-length Sprints of one month or less and adjusts after each one.

Scrum masterThe person on a Scrum Team accountable for the team's effectiveness and for Scrum being understood and used as the Scrum Guide defines it.

Scrum teamThe small, self-managing group that does the work in Scrum: one Product Owner, one Scrum Master and the Developers, typically 10 or fewer people.

ScrumbanA way of working that starts from Scrum and adds Kanban practices such as a visible board, work in progress limits and pulling work in when there's room.

Second brainTiago Forte's name for a digital store of the notes and ideas you save, organized so you can find them and reuse them in your own work.

Self-imposed deadlineA deadline you set for yourself ahead of any real one, often with checkpoints in between, to pace a task instead of leaving it to the last minute.

Shutdown ritualA short end-of-workday routine, made popular by Cal Newport, of reviewing tasks and plans before saying a set phrase that marks work as done.

SMART goalsGoals written to pass five tests: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, an idea first published by George T. Doran in 1981.

Sprint backlogIn Scrum, the Sprint Goal, the Product Backlog items chosen for the Sprint and the Developers' plan for delivering them, kept visible and updated daily.

Sprint goalThe single objective a Scrum Team sets for one Sprint, agreed at Sprint Planning, which gives the team a shared focus while leaving room in the exact work.

Sprint planningThe Scrum event that starts each Sprint, where the whole Scrum Team agrees why the Sprint is valuable, what can be done in it and how the work will get done.

Sprint retrospectiveThe last Scrum event of each Sprint, where the Scrum Team looks at how it worked and picks the changes most likely to make it more effective.

Story pointsA unit agile teams use to estimate the relative effort of a piece of work, weighing its size, complexity and uncertainty rather than hours.

Structured procrastinationJohn Perry's method for procrastinators: keep a list with a big task on top, and get plenty done by doing the worthwhile tasks below it instead.

T

Task batchingGrouping similar small tasks, such as email, calls or errands, and doing them together in one block of time instead of scattering them through the day.

Tickler fileA set of 43 folders, 31 for the days of the month and 12 for the months, where you file papers and reminders to reappear on the date you need them.

Time blocking vs timeboxingTime blocking plans your whole day in blocks of time; timeboxing gives one task a fixed, maximum slot and ends with a stop and a review.

Time trackingRecording how much time goes to each task or type of work, either to see where your hours really go or to keep the hours records pay depends on.

To-do listA written list of the tasks you plan to do, checked or crossed off as each one is finished.

U

Ultradian rhythmA body rhythm that repeats more than once a day, such as the roughly 90-minute cycle of sleep stages, shorter than the 24-hour circadian cycle.

User storyA short description of something a product should do, written from the point of view of the person who needs it, often in the form "As a, I want, so that."

W

Weekly reviewA regular session, usually weekly, where you clear your inboxes, bring your lists and calendar up to date and decide what matters next.

WOOP methodA four-step goal method from psychologist Gabriele Oettingen: name a Wish, picture the Outcome, name your inner Obstacle, then make an if-then Plan.

Word of the yearOne word a person picks to guide their year, or the word a dictionary names as best summing up a year.

Work in progress limitA cap on how many tasks can sit in one stage of work, such as In Progress, at the same time, so new work starts only when something finishes.

Z

ZettelkastenA note system, German for "slip box", where each idea gets its own numbered note linked to related notes; made famous by sociologist Niklas Luhmann.