Why Some Tasks Sit on Your List for Days

An item sits on your list for several days.
Each morning you see it, recognise that it matters, and leave it for later.
Not because the work is difficult, but because the path inside the task is still unclear.

Earlier in my career I worked as a programmer, an analyst, and later as a business analyst.
The first question was never how to build something.
The first question was whether it should be built at all.

Just because someone asks for a system does not mean it is needed.
Before any work begins, you determine the problem space.
What are we trying to solve?
What outcome are we aiming for?
Why is the change needed?

What value should it bring?
How will success be measured?

If the answers are not clear, the work stops there.

Once the answers are clear, the next step is to understand how the work actually flows.

The only way to do that is to talk to the people doing the work, the end users, and ask simple questions.

What happens first?
Then what happens?
And what happens after that?

The answers may depend on different situations.

What happens if the customer approves it?
What happens if they don’t?

Each answer reveals another step in the path.

Another approach is to start at the other end.
Begin with the outcome.

What does success look like?
What must happen just before that?
And what must happen before that?

Working backwards often reveals steps that might otherwise be missed.

Eventually the flow becomes clear.
Only then can the system be properly specified and built.

I have noticed the same pattern in everyday work.

A task sits on your list for days.
On the face of it, it looks straightforward.

“Write a report about the best content management tools.”
The outcome is clear, but the flow inside the task is hidden.

Where do you start?
What is important and what isn’t?
What is the structure?
What does the end look like?

Until the next step becomes visible, the work tends to sit still.

Eventually the first step appears.
Do some research.

Once the next step becomes clear, the work begins to move.
Then the step after that reveals itself.
Write the introduction.
Show comparisons, pricing, features and so on.

Large pieces of work rarely move all at once.
They move when the next step becomes visible.

They may begin at the start.
Or at the end, working backwards.

Either way, progress begins when you can see what happens next.

When you write your next Eightly list, try noticing this.
If something has been sitting on your list for several days, pause for a moment.
Ask a simple question.

Where does this start?
What happens next?

Or start at the other end.

What would the finished result look like, and what must happen just before that?
The next step becomes clear.

The task may not belong on the list at all.
That is part of choosing what matters.

Do what matters. Every day.