Better MYN Urgency Zone Definitions

Sept 30, 2016

Normally I say of the three urgency zones that their definitions are these (in both 1MTD and MYN):

Critical Now: must do today. 5 tasks max. Review hourly.
Opportunity Now: do in 1 to 10 days. 20 tasks max. Review daily.
Over-the-Horizon: do beyond 10 days. Unlimited tasks. Review Weekly.

These definitions work great for 1MTD where no start dates are used. And they are a good starting point for MYN.

Better MYN Definitions

But in MYN, with start dates used to hide tasks to future, there really are some better definitions—ones that capture the fine points of MYN. Specifically, there are better definitions that incorporate Defer to Do and Defer to Review. Those definitions are:

Critical Now: Tasks you absolutely must do now—today—or tasks deferred to do on an absolute future date. Five tasks max can be visible at a time and an unlimited count can be scheduled to future. Review visible list approximately once each hour.
Opportunity Now: Tasks you want to do as soon as possible and that you want to reconsider daily. Or tasks deferred to do on an approximate future date. Twenty tasks max can be visible at a time (with most important at top). An unlimited count can be scheduled to future. Review visible list at least daily.
Over-the-Horizon: No firm commitment to do these tasks; rather only a commitment to periodically reconsider them. Defer all these tasks to an appropriate future Monday review date so that a reasonable number appear each week for review (and so you don’t see each task too often). If on review you find the urgency is now higher, move that task to a higher urgency zone. Otherwise schedule again for future review (or delete them). An unlimited count can be scheduled to future.

These definitions capture the essence of MYN so look them over.

 

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