Concept
ABCDE Method
The ABCDE method is a prioritisation technique from Brian Tracy in which you label every task on your list A (serious consequences), B (mild consequences), C (no consequences), D (delegate) or E (eliminate), then work strictly from the top, starting with your A-1.
Most to-do lists are flat. Twenty items all look equally urgent, so we pick the easiest one and call it progress. The ABCDE method forces a judgment on each item before the day starts. The test is consequences, not urgency. An A has real consequences if it isn't done. A B has mild ones, such as someone getting annoyed. A C would be nice, but nothing happens if it slides, like coffee with a colleague. D tasks belong to someone else, so you hand them over. E tasks get crossed out entirely. If you have several As, number them: A-1, A-2, A-3. Your A-1 is the frog: the job you'd most like to postpone and the one that would make the biggest difference. One rule gives the method its teeth: never do a B while an A is still waiting.
A real-life example
Selin, a product manager, lists eleven tasks on Sunday night. Labelling them takes four minutes. The investor update due Tuesday becomes A-1 and the hiring brief A-2. Three emails are B, and a design-blog article is C. The weekly metrics report goes to her analyst as a D. A competitor feature audit nobody asked for becomes an E. On Monday at nine she opens the investor update instead of her inbox. By eleven, it's sent.
How to use it
- 1The night before, write every task for tomorrow on one list and put a letter next to each. Judge by consequences, not by how urgent the task feels.
- 2Number your As in order of importance. A-1 is your frog, and it goes first, before email.
- 3Hand off the Ds and delete the Es today, then hold the rule: no B until the As are done.