Eisenhower Decision Matrix
Created by Sunneva Gaardlykke
Contents |
Abstract
Prioritising work tasks as an individual or a team is crucial for ensuring success and avoiding stress. One popular method for doing this is the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Former president of the USA, Dwight D. Eisenhower, once said: "What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.[1] These are the words behind the concept of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Later on, Stephen Covey made the method popular in relation to time and task management by including the method in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.[2]
The concept of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix is to prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance, by categorising them into four quadrants: "Q1: Urgent and Important," "Q2: Important but Not Urgent," "Q3: Urgent but Not Important," and "Q4: Not Urgent nor Important." [3] By analysing tasks in this manner, teams and individuals can concentrate their energy on the most important and urgent tasks while delegating or postponing the less important ones. In a normal workday this can be done very easily by simply numbering the tasks on your to-do list according to the quadrants in the matrix, and then starting by doing the tasks numbered 1, then delegating the tasks numbered 3 and planning/doing tasks numbered 2. As for the tasks which are numbered 4, they should be done at last or simply deleted.
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix is a useful tool for project managers and team members, as it provides a clear framework for determining task priority and making informed decisions about allocating time and resources.
Big Idea
Time and task management
Time and task management are essential skills that help individuals and organizations effectively prioritize and use their time to achieve their goals.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
- This matrix only considers two factors: urgency and importance.
- Compare with the Sung diagram [1]
Annotated bibliography
Stephen R. Covey (2013). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change In this book, Covey explains how the Eisenhower Decision Matrix(EDM) can be used, and how it can affect people's effectiveness and accomplishments.
D.R Kennedy, A.L. Porter (2022). The Illusion of Urgency This article describes how the illusion of urgency can affect people's perception of urgency, and thereby also their prioritisation of tasks.
Hannah Bratterud et al. (2020). The Sung Diagram: Revitalizing the Eisenhower Matrix This paper addresses the limitation of the EDM and proposes an extension to the matrix, which provides a third factor in the decision matrix. Having these three factors should in some scenarios clarify some misleading suggestions that the EDM would otherwise make.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bratterud, H., Burgess, M., Fasy, B.T., Millman, D.L., Oster, T., Sung, E. (2020). The Sung Diagram: Revitalizing the Eisenhower Matrix. In: Pietarinen, AV., Chapman, P., Bosveld-de Smet, L., Giardino, V., Corter, J., Linker, S. (eds) Diagrammatic Representation and Inference. Diagrams 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12169. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.proxy.findit.cvt.dk/10.1007/978-3-030-54249-8_43
- ↑ Covey, Stephen R. (2013). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, 25th anniversary edn. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-3961-2
- ↑ Jyothi, N.S., Parkavi, A. (2016) A study on task management system. In: International Conference on Research Advances in Integrated Navigation Systems. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc. https://doi.org/10.1109/RAINS.2016.7764421
