While I absolutely agree that an unsorted to-do list is a minefield, I intuitively feel that FVP is a more-wrong approach to To-Do lists. I also feel that it might work for very small, short term lists but would struggle to scale.
Tasks are extremely varied things and so not always easily comparable, for example when comparing the task “Buy milk” and “Finish term Paper”, the term paper is probably more important in the longer term, but in the short term you wont have any milk for your breakfast. Unless extremely time crunched, breakfast comes first.
*Edit—After some reflection I think the main disadvantage of FVP is when you have to put in the decision making effort. You have to make a decision just before you do the task. Better to rank an issue as you write them on the list, that way you can separate the effort of doing the task from the effort of writing it on your to do list, see below for my favoured solution.
While I absolutely agree that an unsorted to-do list is a minefield, I intuitively feel that FVP is a more-wrong approach to To-Do lists. I also feel that it might work for very small, short term lists but would struggle to scale.
Tasks are extremely varied things and so not always easily comparable, for example when comparing the task “Buy milk” and “Finish term Paper”, the term paper is probably more important in the longer term, but in the short term you wont have any milk for your breakfast. Unless extremely time crunched, breakfast comes first.
*Edit—After some reflection I think the main disadvantage of FVP is when you have to put in the decision making effort. You have to make a decision just before you do the task. Better to rank an issue as you write them on the list, that way you can separate the effort of doing the task from the effort of writing it on your to do list, see below for my favoured solution.
I use and love this, Urgent & important: How (not) to do your to-do list—LessWrong.
My algorithm is:
Write task description
Decide if I “Must”, “Should or “Could” do it
Decide if I should do it “Today” or “Later”
Assign how long it might take me (optional)
Use my spreadsheet to sort by rank (right click A column and sort A-Z)
Do tasks from top to bottom
When a Task is complete, replace “Must”, “Should or “Could” with “Done”
Here is my spreadsheet, I hope it serves you well.
To do list
I would love to receive feedback.