Classify tasks by urgency and importance into four quadrants: do, schedule, delegate, or eliminate. Developed by Dwight D. Eisenhower. A structured approach to prioritization decisions.
Which tasks are truly urgent and important vs those that can be scheduled, delegated, or dropped?
Urgent and important: handle immediately
Important but not urgent: schedule dedicated time
Urgent but not important: delegate to others
Neither urgent nor important: stop doing these
Classify tasks by urgency and importance into four quadrants: do, schedule, delegate, or eliminate.
Based on a quote attributed to Eisenhower: 'What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.' Popularised by Stephen Covey.
Score consistently within a category — don't mix features with entire product lines. Re-score when circumstances change. The most valuable output is a shared decision, not just a ranked list. Use the score to start a conversation, not end one.
Don't let the framework become a bureaucratic exercise — if the team agrees on priorities, a quick gut-check is fine. Avoid false precision; small score differences are noise. Don't score everything; reserve structured scoring for genuinely contested decisions.