Priority Matrix- processing tool large quantity numerical data obtained by constructing matrix diagrams in order to identify priority data. P It is used mainly in cases where there is a need to present numerical data from matrix diagrams in a more visual form.

Most of the seven quality management tools discussed are widely used to transform consumer requirements into the quality parameters of the product they expect and, accordingly, into the quality parameters of the processes of planning, development, production, installation and improvement of the product.

16.Structuring the quality function (QFD).

It was first used by Mitsubishi in 1972. The essence of the SFC method is that consumer requirements must be “unfolded” and specified step by step, starting with pre-investment research and ending with pre-sale preparation. It is applied to newly developed products.

This method is a technology for designing products and processes that allows you to transform consumer wishes into technical requirements to products and parameters of their production processes.

The main idea of ​​SFC technology lies in understanding that there is a big difference between consumer properties (actual quality indicators) and the product parameters established in the standards (auxiliary quality indicators). The task is also to formulate clear goals based on the desires of consumers and customers.

SFC method - This expert method, using a tabular method of presenting data, and with a specific form of tables (matrix diagram), called "quality houses" (Fig. 6.1.1). These tables display the relationship between actual quality indicators (consumer properties) and auxiliary indicators (technical requirements).

The process of planning new products within the framework of the SFC method consists of eight stages.

1. clarification and clarification of consumer requirements . The task of the SFC is precisely to make the consumer’s opinion understandable to the engineer.

The manufacturer's task is to use various methods transform customer requirements (“voice”) into engineering product specifications.

2. ranking of consumer requirements . For ranking, it is necessary to evaluate the ratings of consumer requirements that were determined in the first stage. The list of requirements is sorted by importance. The importance is recorded as a rating.

3. development of engineering characteristics . This stage is performed by a special development team created for this case. At the first stage of her work, she is given the task of compiling a list of engineering characteristics of the future product. 4. calculation of dependencies between consumer requirements and engineering characteristics.

At this stage, we establish the relationship between consumer requirements and engineering characteristics in order to determine which engineering characteristics most strongly influence the satisfaction of certain consumer requirements, which have a weak impact, and which do not create added value of the product for the consumer at all. (black circle - strong connection (9b), white circle - medium connection (3b), triangle - weak connection (1b))

5. building a “roof” ”, which sets out the relationships between the engineering characteristics themselves. The roof is filled with symbols indicating a positive or negative correlation between relevant characteristics products from the perspective of consumer interests. (if there are contradictions - “-”, if there are no contradictions - “+”)

6. we determine the weight indicators of the engineering characteristics taking into account the rating of the importance of consumer requirements, and the relationships between customer requirements and engineering performance.

7. technical limitations are taken into account. Not all engineering performance values ​​are achievable. in the next line of the matrix they put expert assessments technical feasibility of those values ​​of engineering characteristics that are most required by consumers. Taking this into account, adjusted target engineering performance values ​​are obtained.

8. taking into account the influence of competitors .. Competitors are judged on how fully they are able to fulfill each of the customer requirements identified in the first step. * - first competitor - second competitor.

As a result of performing the above procedures, the initial data for terms of reference for the design and development of new products.

Construction of the SFC matrix obtaining engineering characteristics is the first phase of four (product planning - planning of product components - process design - production design), which together “deploy” consumer requirements not only into engineering characteristics, but also further - into process indicators and everything production.

Eisenhower Matrix is one of the most popular and sought-after techniques for prioritizing tasks.
Its authorship belongs to the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower. He conducted many experiments on organizing his time and as a result came to the conclusion that that urgent things are rarely important, and important things are rarely urgent.

Eisenhower came up with a tool by which this principle could be applied to prioritizing tasks and separating important tasks from urgent but unimportant ones. The tool was called " Eisenhower Matrix».

According to the Eisenhower matrix, any task can be divided into 4 categories:

• A – urgent and important
• B – important but not urgent
• C - urgent, but not important
• D – not urgent and not important

Let us describe each of the categories in detail.

A – urgent and important

For organized people who know how to manage their time well, this category of tasks is almost always empty. And only occasionally there may be force majeure, suddenly arising cases that require urgent attention.

This category, according to Eisenhower's classification, includes tasks for which deadlines are running out and failure to complete them can lead to disastrous consequences in the future. That is, deadlines, emergency situations, life and death situations.

Examples of urgent and important matters:

1) You have a toothache - you can’t think about anything else other than toothache

2) A faucet has burst and is drowning the apartment - you need to urgently call a plumber

3) Delivery of the project at work - deadlines are running out, but the project is not yet completed.

As I already wrote above, the more organized a person is, the fewer urgent and important things arise in his life. That's why the challenge you face as people who want to learn how to better manage their time is to learn how to solve problems in advance so that they don't fall into this category.

B – important but not urgent

This category includes cases the implementation of which has important for our future, but the implementation of which does not burn. Let's say we want to learn a new language and this will help us get a better position. Or we want to run in the morning to be healthy.

Completing important and non-urgent tasks will help us achieve more success in life. But, as practice shows, for some reason people are in no hurry to sit down for them. And it often happens that this category of cases becomes important and urgent. And then stress is guaranteed for you.

Examples of important but not urgent matters:

1) Physical health

2) Training and courses

3) Solving important work problems

If you learn to find time to solve important, but not urgent tasks, you will soon see how your life becomes easier and easier.

S – not important, but urgent

In order to understand whether this task is really important, imagine what result you will get after completing it. If the results are minimal, then classify this case as category C.

Examples of unimportant but urgent tasks:

1) Helping others - a friend asked to take her dog for a walk (for the sixth time in a month), it’s inconvenient to refuse.

2) The dollar rate will rise by half a percent tomorrow, you need to urgently change 100 dollars

3) Called and asked to urgently complete a survey (although completing the survey can wait)

D – not important and not urgent

We call these things time wasters. We spend a lot of time on them, but the result of our actions is practically zero.

You can easily get confused in the endless stream of everyday affairs, because every day there are more and more of them. Yesterday's unfinished tasks become today's, and what we did not have time to do today is automatically transferred to tomorrow. As a result, so many things can accumulate that you can’t figure out what has been done, what is in progress, and what is still waiting in the wings.

Such or detailed situations often occur among people who do not pay due attention to the process of planning their activities. Naturally, the skills of time management and time management are not taught at school, and many parents and other people who act as educators in the process of our development often themselves do not really know how to plan their activities, although this is not at all difficult. It’s just that due attention is not paid to this.

However, today there are many excellent planning techniques that allow you to learn how to rationally use your time resource and extract maximum benefit from this process for yourself. But in this article we will not consider all these techniques, but will give an example of only one, which is distinguished by its simplicity and effectiveness. This technique is called the "Eisenhower Matrix".

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​one of the most popular time management tools that is used by many people around the world: from ordinary employees and middle managers to executives of large firms and world-famous corporations. The founder of this matrix is ​​the 34th President of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower. As you might guess, this man was very busy and had to do many different things related to his activities. For this reason, he was optimizing his work schedule and list of tasks to perform. The result of his research was the matrix we are considering.

The meaning of the Eisenhower matrix is ​​mainly to learn how to competently distribute all your tasks, distinguish the important from the urgent, the non-urgent from the least important, and also reduce the time to the maximum for doing any tasks, the implementation of which does not produce any significant results. Let's talk about how all this works in practice.

The essence of the Eisenhower matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four quadrants, based on two axes - the importance axis (vertical) and the urgency axis (horizontal). As a result, it turns out that each quadrant differs in its quality indicators. All tasks and activities are recorded in each of the quadrants, thanks to which an extremely clear and objective picture is formed of what should be done first, what should be done second, and what should not be done at all. All this is quite simple, but giving a few explanations will not be superfluous in any case.

Quadrant A: important and urgent matters
In ideal planning, this quadrant of the matrix should remain empty, because the appearance of important and urgent matters is an indicator of disorganization and the possibility of blockage. This part of the schedule fills up for many people due to their inherent laziness and poor prioritization. Naturally, from time to time such things can appear in every person, but if this happens every day, then it’s time to pay attention to self-discipline.

So, the occurrence of cases in the A quadrant should be avoided. And to do this, you just need to complete the points of the remaining quadrants in a timely manner. But if there is something worth including in the first quadrant, it is:

Things that, if not completed, will have a negative impact on achieving your goals
Things that, if not done, can cause difficulties and troubles
Things related to health
It is also important to remember that there is such a thing as “delegation”. This means that when things appear in your A quadrant that can be delegated to someone else, you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity in order to resolve other important and urgent matters as quickly as possible.

Quadrant B: important but not urgent matters
The second quadrant deserves the most attention, because the matters located precisely in it are the most priority and promising, and it is these that should consist of the daily tasks of any person. It has been noticed that people who are primarily involved in the affairs of this quadrant achieve the greatest success in life, are promoted in their careers, and earn more money, have enough free time and live a happy and fulfilling life.

Please also note that the lack of urgency allows you to approach the solution of any problems more deliberately and constructively, and this in turn allows a person to reveal his full potential, independently think through all the nuances of his activities and manage the time frame of his affairs. But here, among other things, you need to remember that things that are in the B quadrant, if not done in a timely manner, can easily fall into the A quadrant, becoming even more important and requiring speedy completion.

Experienced specialists in time management, it is recommended to include in quadrant B all current affairs related to the main activity, planning and analysis of work, educational and sports activities, adherence to an optimal schedule and diet. Those. everything that ours consists of ordinary everyday life.

Quadrant C: urgent but not important matters
Things that are in this quadrant are, for the most part, distracting and do not bring a person any closer to the intended results. Often they simply interfere with concentration on the truly important tasks and reduce efficiency. The main thing when working with the matrix is ​​not to confuse urgent matters from quadrant C with urgent matters from quadrant A. Otherwise, confusion will form and what should be done first remains in the background. Always remember your goals and learn to distinguish the important from the unimportant.

Quadrant C matters include, for example, meetings or negotiations imposed by someone else, birthday celebrations of not very close people, sudden chores around the house, elimination of non-vitally important distractions that require attention (a vase broke, a microwave broke). stove, a light bulb has burned out, etc.), as well as all sorts of other things that do not move you forward, but only slow you down.

Quadrant D: Not urgent or important matters
Tasks in the last quadrant are of no benefit at all. In many cases, it is useful not only to deal with them in last resort, but also not to deal with them at all. Although you definitely need to know about them, because... They are the “time wasters”.

Another interesting feature of the tasks from this group is that they are very attractive to many people - these tasks are easy to do and bring pleasure, allowing you to relax and have a good time. Therefore, resisting the temptation to engage in them can be quite problematic. But it is absolutely necessary to do this.

In quadrant D you can write down such things as talking on the phone with friends about something unimportant, unnecessary correspondence or spending time on social networks, watching TV series and various “dumbing” TV shows, computer games and so on. Of course, every person should periodically relax and somehow entertain themselves, but there are more interesting and educational ways to do this: reading good books, intellectual games, visiting gyms and swimming pools, trips to nature, etc. If you can’t completely rid yourself of doing things from quadrant D or don’t want to, then you need to postpone their implementation at least until the moment when things from quadrants B and C are completed, and the time that will be devoted to things in quadrant D should be reduced to a minimum. The well-known proverb would be appropriate here: “It’s time for business, time for fun.”

As soon as you master the Eisenhower matrix and learn to competently distribute your affairs within it, you will notice that you have a lot of new free time, you manage to do everything in a timely manner and without haste, all your affairs are in order, goals are achieved one after another, and you yourself are almost always in good mood and cheerful mood. It's all about organization and composure. You yourself probably notice from time to time that disorganized people are always in a whirlwind of some incomprehensible affairs, they are always busy with something stupid, but “very important”, they look tired and irritated. Distinctive features many can be cited. But this is not important, but the fact that if you and I do not want to have similar results, then we must act differently. Namely: we must be organized, clearly understand what and when we need to do, and why we are doing all this. And the Eisenhower matrix is ​​perfect for this.

We wish you good luck and successful mastery of your new skill!

• Creator of the Eisenhower Method
• The principle of the Eisenhower method
• • A (important and urgent)
  • B (important but not urgent)
  • C (urgent but not important)
  • D (non-urgent and unimportant)
• Eisenhower Matrix: Example
• Conclusion

Every day we overcome a mountain of tasks, but such workload does not always help us move forward. Sometimes we waste a lot of time on empty activities, while important work waiting on the margins of planning.

Eisenhower Square- a tool for distributing tasks by importance and urgency. It helps you understand what work needs to be done right now, what to put off until later, and what to discard altogether.

The Eisenhower method was created to avoid these mistakes, it structures the work and identifies “time wasters”, like an x-ray.

Creator of the Eisenhower Method

This time management tool was given to us not by anyone, but by US President Dwight David Eisenhower himself, who ruled the United States from 1953 to 1961. He led American troops in Europe during World War II. Having liberated France during the Normandy operation, Dwight Eisenhower returned home as a hero and was appointed commander in chief of the US Army. This outstanding man stood at the origins of NATO and was one of the two most beloved presidents by Americans, sharing their hearts with George Washington. After retiring, he did not sit idly by, but worked as the rector of Columbia University.

As you understand, Eisenhower had a lot of work. Born into a poor family, he managed to build such a dizzying career thanks to a competent prioritization and discipline. Such a person will not give bad advice - his time management technique has been tested in practice, and the personality of the inventor can already be considered the best recommendation.

The principle of the Eisenhower method

The Eisenhower Matrix consists of two coordinate axes - importance and urgency. At their intersection four fields are formed:

• important and urgent
• important but not urgent
• urgent but not important
• unimportant and not urgent

Having defined each case in its own field, we already have an algorithm for further work on each of them.

Eisenhower Table - Visual Assistant

The human brain is designed in such a way that we better understand structured information - laid out on shelves, cells, and accompanied by visual materials. Therefore, it is best to draw the priority square on paper or in tables on the computer.

As you can see, all fields are colored in different colors. This is not an aesthetic whim of the artist - this is how we noted their importance in the global planning of the work. When you start working with the table, specific tasks will be located in these cells.

What to do first and what not to do at all?

Priority Matrixanswers these questions clearly and clearly. Each field of the Eisenhower table has its own “verdict”. As soon as a task ends up in a particular cell, we already know what to do with it.

A (important and urgent)

This field is colored red because ideal it should remain empty. When tasks appear in it, it means that you planned something incorrectly and wasted time on unnecessary things.

Of course, it is impossible to achieve the ideal, so points will still appear in this square. If this happens, then this is what should be entered in field A:

• overcoming crises;
• work, the failure of which can lead to serious problems and disruption of goals;
• resolving issues that could lead to a deterioration in living standards, threatening career or family well-being;
• health problems.

If, when you first compiled the table, it turned out that there are many points in the red cell, you need to devote all your efforts to clearing it. If the task is complex, consider involving relatives, friends, or delegating something to subordinates.

B (important but not urgent)

The main activity should take place in this field, so it is colored in green color action and growth. Everything that helps a person achieve goals and improve his life should be done without fail and without haste.

This is not so easy to achieve, since we are all human students and are accustomed to getting down to business only when a deadline looms on the horizon. But this is where it lies main secret Success: Do all the important things in advance. This will help you work with pleasure and concentration, and not in a state of fear and fuss.

Here are the following tasks:

• implementation of current work projects;
• household matters related to the material base of your family;
• preparation for important family holidays, communication with relatives;
• self-education;
• disease prevention, sports, healthy image life.

You need to do these things yourself, attracting help in cases where there is a lot of work and it is unrealistic to do it yourself.

C (urgent but not important)

The two bottom fields are colored in for a reason gray colors- after all, they are not important, and you can simply not notice them, like a mouse. But they become a serious obstacle that slows us down in our development.

Urgent but unimportant matters include:

• some calls and meetings;
• sudden everyday troubles;
• gestures of politeness towards people outside the circle of relatives and friends (presence at holidays, long conversations);
• requests from friends to solve problems that they can deal with on their own.

If you do not work through this point, you may find yourself in a vicious circle of constantly raking over unimportant matters that provide minimal benefit. Tasks in this square can be ignored or delegated to other people to free up time for main work.

The main thing is not to confuse things from points A and C. This way, you can mistake some nonsense for an important task, or vice versa - refuse to resolve critical issues, sending them to point C.

D (non-urgent and unimportant)

Time wasters “live” in this dark gray square, and it is advisable to eliminate them from life altogether. Settled here:

• TV series and social networks;
• harmful entertainment;
• chatting on the phone;
• communication with toxic people;
• actions that promote procrastination;
• some routine work;
• perfectionist's troubles.

Most of these items need to be removed from the schedule by force of will - that’s why this item is written down. It also includes routine work, the implementation of which has very little benefit. You can do it - or you can not do it. Delegate this work to subordinates or employees. Or grandma.

How to correctly distribute tasks in a table?

Indeed, there is a high probability of assigning the wrong level of importance and urgency to the matter. This is exactly what our hierarchy of priorities suffers from.

In order not to make a mistake, we must simply answer two questions “yes” or “no”:

1. Is this work necessary to advance your main goals? (Will I get in trouble if I don't do this?) YES is important, NO is not important.
2. If I don't do it now, will this task no longer be relevant tomorrow? YES - urgent, NO - not urgent.

Having distributed the work according to the table in this way, first of all we begin to solve the questions from the red square, and then from the green one.

Eisenhower Matrix: Example

Make a matrix better in the morning . Remember all the things you were going to do in the near future, what your friends asked you to do, what tasks your boss gave you, what you wanted to do for yourself. Write these things down on a piece of paper one after another.

Now think about each of them, answer questions about importance and urgency. Depending on how you answered the questions, place the problem in the appropriate box. Remember even the smallest things - they are the ones that take up a lot of our time. The number of points in each cell is determined only by you. There may be 20 or zero.

Your matrix might look like this:

When your tasks are distributed, make a convenient list for yourself (for example, on your phone) of tasks from the red square so that you can constantly check it. Separate - for tasks from the green square. Having completed all the points from the first, immediately take on the second, setting yourself the task of keeping the red square as free as possible.

Ignore the tasks in the gray squares or delegate them to those to whom they may be important or interesting. For example, a post on a social network about the first snow is of no use if it does not relate to your project. But it can become part of the advertising content - in this case, it is better to entrust it to the SMM department, linking information about the promotion.

Conclusion

The Eisenhower Matrix is, in a sense, a machine for clearing your day of debris from unimportant matters. At first you need to draw it every day, but over time you will intuitively feel the “color” of this or that matter. No matter how influential Eisenhower was, he would not have been able to buy himself extra hours in the day. And here manage time effectively Even a student can do it.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

34 US President Dwight David Eisenhower was a very busy man. To get more done in a day, he created his own effective time management tool, which today is called the Eisenhower Matrix or Priority Matrix. What is the essence of the method?

What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

The idea of ​​the Eisenhower Matrix is ​​to learn how to quickly distinguish important matters from unimportant ones and those that do not require attention at all. Eisenhower proposed dividing all current and planned matters into 4 categories based on the principle of urgency and importance. For clarity, he drew a square and divided it into 4 fields. Each field contained a to-do list:

• Field 1: Important and urgent matters;
• Field 2: Important, but not very urgent matters;
• 3 field: Not important, but urgent matters;
• Field 4: Not important or urgent matters.

How to work with the Eisenhower square?

Let's look at the Eisenhower square in more detail:

1. Important and urgent matters. What would you put in this category? How many urgent and important things could be written in this square? The trick is that Eisenhower planning can only be called effective when the very first square is always clean, without a single entry. If you have a list of tasks that you can assign to this field of the matrix, it means that something is interfering with your productive work: laziness, lack of self-discipline, inability to correctly set priorities, etc. All this leads to rush jobs, which has a bad effect on mental and physical condition person.
2. Important, but not very urgent matters. Eisenhower, when creating his time management system, was sure that this category was the most important. Putting a task here in a timely manner and taking on its implementation means the opportunity to devote as much time as necessary to solving the problem. For example, a timely visit to a doctor will prevent illness, and writing a student’s thesis a little ahead of schedule will leave an opportunity to correct errors.
3. Not very important, but urgent matters. This field of the Esenhower matrix is ​​intended to place here things that interfere efficient work and therefore require immediate elimination. For example, fixing a broken computer, helping your mother-in-law transport furniture to the country house, etc.
4. Not urgent or important matters. In the priority matrix there is also a place for things that we do every day in order to take our minds off work.

   These are long conversations on the phone, watching TV series, friend feeds, writing letters, etc. That is, all those things that are pleasant, but not necessary. Eisenhower, speaking about priorities, called such activities “time wasters” that negatively affect work productivity.

It will be more convenient to work with the Eisenhower square if:

• Arrange tasks in each field in order of importance, numbering them in Latin letters or numbers. You should tackle more urgent and important matters first;
• Focus mainly on matters from square 2. If things from the list of not very urgent, but important ones fall into the square of important and urgent matters, it’s not a big deal. The main thing is that such a movement does not become a trend;
• Define long-term goals for yourself and outline step-by-step tasks to achieve them. Distribute tasks into squares;
• Don't be distracted from what you're doing this moment tasks for smoking breaks, checking mail and other things.

Thus, the matrix created by President Eisenhower is an effective time management tool that has been successfully used in practice for more than half a century.

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The Eisenhower Matrix as a Priority Setting Tool

It is believed that General Dwight Eisenhower used this method.

He created a task classification matrix that he used to organize his time more efficiently, and it helped him achieve success - becoming President of the United States.

All cases, according to the Eisenhower matrix, can be divided into four categories based on importance and urgency

Let's take a closer look at each of these categories.

A. Important and urgent. Things in this category need to be done immediately. The most suitable word for them is “emergency”.

Tomorrow is the exam, but the tickets have not yet been learned, and you have to hastily finish learning what has been put off for a long time until later.

“You need to live in such a way that important things do not turn into urgent ones.”

B. Important and non-urgent. Cases in this category are the most “offended”; we pay the least attention to them, because they are not urgent! “Time is running out,” we think about such matters and put them on the back burner. “The exam is so far away, the whole semester is ahead, you don’t have to think about it yet

about preparation... Well, there’s still a month before the exam, I’ll have time to learn everything... There’s still a whole week ahead, there’s time...” And gradually, due to our neglect of category matters IN they turn into category affairs A. And now it’s the last night before the exam, and we are feverishly trying to remember at least something, and it’s spinning in our heads: “Eh, I should have started preparing earlier!” To avoid such a scenario of events in your life, go to the category affairs IN one must approach it as an investment that must be made today in order to make a profit tomorrow.

WITH. Unimportant and urgent . Cunning things that like to “pretend to be important.” They cleverly disguise themselves as category cases A, and they often manage to deceive us: it is human nature to confuse importance and urgency, which is what category C tasks take advantage of. It is these tasks that create an atmosphere of bustle, turmoil and eternal haste, but for some reason this state of affairs is often considered an indicator of active work. But even at the beginning of the 20th century. the classic of the scientific organization of labor F. Taylor noted that a well-organized enterprise is one where no one runs anywhere, does not fuss, and all things are done leisurely, but on time and with high quality. Take a close look at your personal "I" corporation. How are things going for you?

D. Unimportant and non-urgent("trash bin"). Our time sinks are cases of this type. They are often pleasant and interesting, so we prefer to spend money on them. best watch, and then we can’t remember where so much time went? Such things need to be “financed” on a residual basis, otherwise they will “eat up” the entire budget of our time. If we follow this principle, they may well turn from absorbers into our helpers.

Make it a rule: “I’ll write an essay on economics, do an assignment on time management, and if there is any left free time, I'll play for an hour

into a computer game” and strictly follow it. Then the important work will be done, and there will be time for entertainment.

Advantages of the Eisenhower Matrix:

— easy to use;

- allows you to reduce the number of unimportant tasks;

— helps to quickly identify priority tasks and activities.

Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix

Stephen Covey was one of the few people on the planet who knew how to properly manage every minute of time.

Covey worked on the original time management system for several years, investing everything in it practical experience that he had accumulated through hundreds, and maybe thousands, of consultations with businessmen and simply business people who dreams of squeezing everything out of time. Until the very last drop.

Stephen has written several books on productivity. The most famous "Seven Habits" highly effective people» . It describes the habits you need to stick to to become more productive.

Briefly about each of the habits:

1. Be proactive. Change the world around you to create a comfortable environment for achieving goals, self-realization and creation. Ignore factors beyond your control, such as politics
2. Start taking action with the end goal in mind. Any of your actions should be aimed at achieving this goal
3. Compose time management matrix and give priority to important and at the same time non-urgent matters
4. Act with a strategy Win-Win(win-win).

   There are always 2 sides (participants) in any problem. Think about how to solve it at the same time and in the most beneficial way for everyone.

5. First, strive to understand a person; being understood is a matter of second importance. Develop empathic listening - accepting emotions, feelings, and not just words from a person. And don't forget to give yours
6. Strive to catch the synergistic effect. Synergy means that the whole is always greater than its parts. The effect appears when working on difficult tasks, as well as when working in a team
7. Sharpen your saw. Constantly improve your planning, communication and empathy skills

The most interesting and unusual point of the above is the third point: “Time Matrix”.

What is a time management matrix and how to work with it

A matrix is ​​a template by which you can determine sequence of tasks.

Physically matrix is a square divided into 4 smaller squares. Measured horizontally urgency, and vertically - importance.

Any new task must be correlated with one of the squares and, depending on the selected square, a specific action must be taken, for example, immediately take on the task or postpone it until later.

Options for dealing with cases

Stephen Covey's time management matrix suggests 4 options for the development of actions.

If it's urgent and important, it needs to be done right now. The share of such cases can reach 40-50%. Covey argues that urgent and important tasks contribute little to achieving your main goals. The presence of a large number of such cases primarily indicates an emergency situation, therefore, improper organization of working time and low personal productivity.

If it's not urgent and important, then to execute it you need to select maximum amount time, attention and resources. It is these things that lead you to your goals, which means the benefit from completion is maximum.

If it's urgent and unimportant, you need to delegate it (entrust it). Try to find a performer for whom this task is important. This way you will save your own time.

If it's not urgent and unimportant- don't do it. Sometimes it is psychologically difficult to refuse to complete it, because the thought has already become firmly established in the mind that the task must be completed. If you can’t show willpower and overcome yourself, put the task on a separate “To Do Someday” list.

How to manage a lot of things using a matrix

Most likely, you are a very busy person and the number of your tasks is measured in dozens.

Trying to keep them in your head or write them down on paper is counterproductive.

We present to you LeaderTask - a specialized program for analyzing cases. LeaderTask supports Stephen Covey's time management technique.

Create 4 folders (projects) in the program to work on the time matrix:

Start filling them with tasks:

Try it LeaderTask to work on the Covey time management matrix.

Download LeaderTask

The Eisenhower Matrix (named after the 34th US President who invented it) is one of the time management methods for determining the priorities of the day's affairs. The matrix looks like four squares, which are obtained by crossing the axes “Important - Not Important” horizontally and “Urgent - Not Urgent” vertically.

How to use this matrix? Just distribute your tasks there (for example, the tasks of the day) according to their importance and urgency.

Important and urgent matters are those that are very important and cannot be delayed. Without them, everything will collapse, and it will be too late to do them tomorrow. These things need to be done today, first of all - and without fail. Examples of important and urgent tasks: completing a project task that is about to be due; unscheduled visit to a dentist, traumatologist or other specialist; urgent telephone call to a client or counterparty. In theory, the square of important and urgent matters should be empty, but in practice, sometimes every person has important and urgent matters, some of them are generated by laziness, some by a lack of professionalism, and some by force majeure.

Important but not urgent matters are important things that will become urgent soon. If you don’t plan to wait for this and give yourself an unnecessary race, then pay close attention to these matters. Examples of such matters: current (planned) work on your projects; planning new projects; assessment of the results obtained on projects.

Things are not important, but urgent. As a rule, this square includes things that do not bring you any closer to your goal, whatever it may be; these are things that need to be done, but solely for the sake of doing them. Congratulations on his birthday (it turns out that Vasya was born today), the unexpected arrival of guests and other unplanned, forced meetings that cannot be refused. If you can delegate something from this, entrust it to someone, be sure to do it.

Things that are not important and not urgent are the worst category of things. They are not important, they are not urgent, but they are the ones you want to do. These are your time wasters - reading glossy magazines, computer games, watching TV and surfing the Internet.

Important: many people start doing crap when they are simply tired. When you want, you want. So, this is a wrong decision. That's right - plan a quality vacation (this is the category Important, but not urgent) and have a quality rest, and not do bullshit.

In summary, as a tool, the Eisenhower matrix works and, moreover, organizes well if you follow it. You can be proud of yourself if the “Important and Urgent” square is empty more often: and this is quite possible if you more often deal with the affairs of the “Important, but not Urgent” square. This is how professionals work!

It will be useful for you to determine how effectively you spend your time, whether you know how to set priorities and delegate responsibilities.

Write out a plan for one day from your weekly/diary. What did you do, what tasks
decided who you met, who interfered with your work, how long did it take? Divide what you did into the four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix, indicating the time spent.

Calculate how time was distributed across the four quadrants?

Processing the results.

Quadrant I - those matters that require immediate resolution. They are both urgent and important, and so
and shout about themselves: “Do it! Make up your mind! Reply to the letter! Meeting! Prepare a report!

What did you receive?
If quadrant I has grown disproportionately, this means that deadlines and dates control you, and not you control your life. Maybe you just pushed everything to the last limit? After all, it may very well be that the tasks of quadrant II, which are also important, but not urgent, became urgent because you did not manage to complete them on time? You lack a strategic approach to the problem. A manager, or just a person who finds himself in such a situation, is under the daily sword of Damocles of stress caused by an ongoing crisis situation. You have neither the time nor the energy to think about long-term plans, prepare proposals for a new product, your friends, the relationships with whom you value so much, have forgotten what you look like. You are catching up with a departing train, and at one point you will find yourself on an empty platform with a broken heart.

Why?
You have set your priorities incorrectly, do not know how to delegate responsibilities, and do not trust
to your employees, you bear all the burden on yourself. In this state of affairs, it is difficult for you to understand
read upward, because You have no opinion, no vision for the future of the company, you are completely busy
important issues today.

What to do?
Learn to delegate responsibilities, develop a deputy, an understudy, if you want, who will replace you if necessary. Prepare a list of duties that your employees can perform instead of you. Review the priority sheet. Move the center of gravity of your activity to quadrant II.

Golden rule: A crisis is easier to prevent than to resolve.

Quadrant II. Important, but not urgent - great philosophy! If you managed to distribute your time in such a way that quadrant II turned out to be the most filled with tasks, you can be sincerely congratulated!

What did you receive?
You are excellent at “separating the wheat from the chaff”, you concentrate on the main thing, you have your own view on everything, since you have enough time to calmly think about current and future projects. You have good business relationship with your colleagues, you have someone to turn to with questions and for advice if necessary.

Why?
Your prioritization system is well suited to your specific activities.
You know how to delegate responsibilities and do not waste time solving other people's problems.

Quadrant III. Not important, but urgent? Unimportant little things, short-term goals, momentary interests and problems.

What did you receive?
Don't you think that you are plugging all the holes? Or did you arrange it this way yourself? Why are you doing the least important part of the job? Who does the rest for you?

If, in addition, the second place in terms of time spent in your matrix is ​​occupied by quadrant IV, then you are the first candidate for dismissal.

Why?
For some reason, you are doing your best job responsibilities Only the unimportant ones were chosen. Moreover, you yourself have determined what is the main thing for you, and what is vanity of vanities. If you yourself admit that you waste time on unimportant tasks, then why do you do this? You have neither clear goals nor plans, either for the near future or for the long term. This is similar to sabotage, and you yourself will suffer from it first of all.

What to do?
If you are going to look for another job, think first, what kind of recommendation from your current management can you count on with such work enthusiasm? It would probably be more advisable to put things in order at your current place of work, so that your boss lets you go with tears in his eyes and a promise to accept you as soon as you want to come back. To do this, you just need to “simply” move the center of gravity of your affairs to quadrant II, become indispensable and truly the right employee. To do this, you need to immediately review your priority list, task schedules, and master all time-saving techniques. You have nowhere to retreat, you are in a crisis that could end in disaster!

Quadrant IV. Unimportant and non-urgent matters. What are you paid for? You don't mind spending
spend your life doing worthless things? No comments needed.

“Urgent matters are usually not the most important,
and the important ones are not the most urgent.”
D. Eisenhower

A preliminary analysis of your Eisenhower Matrix has shown that people who strive and achieve success avoid doing things in quadrants III and IV.

If most of your cases are in quadrants I and III, it is useful for you to read the note: Quadrants I and III