During the project progress, especially during the project sprint phase, it is inevitable to be involved in various things every day. However, how to stay busy without getting confused and handle various tasks in an orderly manner is worth considering.
Task management is usually divided into two types: calendar events with time attributes and to-do tasks without time attributes. The former is about how to arrange one's time and use it efficiently, usually corresponding to various calendar tools. The latter focuses on specific events and their completion, usually corresponding to to-do lists.
Although these two types seem to be distinct, in reality, they cannot be treated separately. For example, if we need to attend a work meeting and we are just an audience, we can simply record this event on the calendar and attend it on time. But if we are the host or need to actively participate and speak at the meeting, it is not as simple as just having the calendar remind us to attend the meeting on time. The meeting will be associated with tasks such as preparation, arrangement, recording, and follow-up after the meeting. Reality is complex, and events are intricately connected to each other, so to-do lists and schedules are inseparable. Like the image below [1].
Based on my observation, many people usually use separate calendar tools and to-do list tools on their phones or computers for task management. Often, these two are different software and are disconnected. For example, when writing a graduation thesis, we need to complete the task of writing the entire thesis, as well as tasks such as searching for literature, data analysis, and organizing notes on specific dates. Using calendars and to-do tools, the task management of the entire graduation thesis becomes chaotic. Or, many people "record" everything in a physical notebook, but such recording is linear, and the content at the back is difficult to relate to the previous content, and the previous content cannot "reinforce" the future [2], making it difficult to track task progress effectively.
Some people even "attempt" to keep all arrangements in their minds, but just like fish with only seven seconds of memory, humans are no different. The number of events that the human brain can process simultaneously is limited, between 4 and 6. Beyond this number, we will discard previous content. Therefore, using external tools for task management is the right choice, which frees our brains from memory work and allows us to focus on task processing.
From the above description, we can see that events and time are closely related in task management. Therefore, let's borrow the naming of the time-event model from ppip: the Time-Event Model.
How to manage tasks from the dimensions of time and events? Traditional tools are inevitably unable to meet the requirements. "Dual-chain" tools are perfect for this work.
Next, I will use myself as an example to introduce how I apply the Time-Event Model to task management.
First, let me introduce the tool I use—workflowy [3]. It is a minimalist outline note-taking tool that supports multi-platform and multi-device synchronization. It has a simple interface, and you can create nodes by clicking the "+" button. Pressing enter, tab, and shift+tab allows you to start recording your thoughts without any psychological pressure. With the mouse, you can easily drag nodes to wherever you want them to be, freely adjusting the hierarchy.
Organize Your Brain
Collect your ideas, develop them, share them, and turn them into reality.
This is the introduction on its official website, which resonates with me. When I have a new task, I can quickly record it by hitting enter, without worrying about organizing it first. With workflowy's smooth node dragging, I can easily rearrange later.
First, let's take the task "Writing a Thesis - with 'Working Memory' as the theme" as an example to explain how to use workflowy in conjunction with the Time-Event Model for task management. There are mainly two modes: 1. Task theme as the main node; 2. Date as the main node. These two are not mutually exclusive but complementary.
First, based on the major theme of writing a thesis, we can roughly arrange tasks for each stage. Then, according to the preliminary plan, assign tasks for the next few days and annotate the dates after specific tasks. This way, we have control over the progress of writing the thesis.
Of course, reality often does not develop as planned, which is also the norm of life. Continuing with the example of writing a thesis, if one day there is suddenly an opportunity to interview a "big shot," in addition to scheduling the event under the corresponding node, we can also directly transfer this event to the corresponding node through a "dual-chain" link. The specific operation is as follows: add "Interview XX, Date 2024-06-26" to the bottom node, then type the symbol [[, and enter the parent node you want to associate with, to complete the dual-chain link. The specific effect is as follows. The task of searching for information, whether it is a planned task or an unexpected task, can be summarized here.
Reality is not only full of surprises but also a mix of various tasks and events. We cannot only have one task like writing a thesis. Using the example background mentioned above, in addition to writing the thesis, we also need to find a job. We can create a parent node called "Job Search." Usually, I would create a #today tag as the parent node and use it as a collection box. The specific example is as follows. Through dual-chain links, daily tasks can be associated with the parent node one by one, and the associated tasks can also be viewed under the parent node. This way, daily tasks are clear at a glance, and project progress can be tracked at any time.
In addition, workflowy has powerful search capabilities, allowing you to filter out corresponding nodes based on dates, so you don't have to worry about missing tasks recorded in various places.
Through the above examples, we can see that time and events are connected, and different tasks no longer overwhelm us and make it difficult to adapt. With outlines and dual-chain links, we summarize daily tasks under the corresponding themes. With a bird's-eye view, our brains will be much more relaxed, and our "computing resources" will be tilted towards task processing rather than task arrangement.
The above is my humble opinion on the Time-Event Model and my practice with workflowy. Actually, after writing it, I found that my explanation was not clear enough, but I cannot wait for everything to be perfect before publishing this article. This is what the "Feynman Learning Technique" taught me. Here's a little advertisement: The "Feynman Learning Technique" is the best learning method.
Looking forward to your feedback!!!
[1] The original image is from a live broadcast by ppip: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1VA411M7bw/...
[2] The concept of reinforcing the future comes from Liu Cixin's science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem."
[3] Thanks to pimgeek for recommending workflowy. https://web.okjike.com/originalPost...