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Not the way they are taught by their proponents. Too many use the to do list not just to set priorities but to project plan at the micro level. They estimate it
by swombat 17y ago
Not the way they are taught by their proponents. Too many use the to do list not just to set priorities but to project plan at the micro level. They estimate it will take so long to do this item and then match that with an available time slot throughout the day. The to do list wastes more time than it purports to save.
Straw man. Who the hell uses their todo list like that? Who are those "proponents" who suggest playing this sort of silly "estimate the task and match it to a time slot" game? I've never met one.
Todo lists are for one thing only: to take the things you said you'd do out of your mind so you can focus on that one most important task.
- rguzman 17y agoI know of a proponent of todo lists who happens to be a pretty remarkable achiever: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity
- Periodic 17y agoYup, he is very selective in his sample. He sampled a bunch of "super-achievers" and some of them don't use to-do lists. He didn't say how much or what qualified as a to-do list. Then he ignores people who are successful and use to-do lists. There's also huge selection bias. What about all the disorganized people who don't use to-do lists and aren't successful? I can assure you there are a lot of them. To-do lists are probably very weakly correlated with success, if at all.
- hughprime 17y agoStraw man. Who the hell uses their todo list like that? Who are those "proponents" who suggest playing this sort of silly "estimate the task and match it to a time slot" game? I've never met one. You've never seen a Gantt chart? You're lucky, then.
- swombat 17y agoA Gantt chart is not a todo list. And a todo list is not a Gantt chart. Ranting against the evils of over-planned projects is one thing. Equating that to the humble todo list is not only silly, it's also very wrong. Terrible advice.
- Harj 17y agoi've seen many people have this approach and misuse to-do lists. plenty of people will whizz through the peripheries first so they feel a sense of accomplishment and then wonder why they're up until 3am working on the big things.