Eisenhower principle

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The so-called Eisenhower principle (also: Eisenhower method , Eisenhower matrix ) is a way of dividing upcoming tasks into categories, often referenced in the advice and consulting literature. This is to do the most important tasks first and sort out unimportant things. There is no evidence that the eponymous US President and Allied General Dwight D. Eisenhower practiced or taught it himself. The reference to Eisenhower goes back to a speech in which he quoted an unnamed former university president in 1954 as follows: "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent."

There are four possible combinations based on the criteria of importance (important / not important) and urgency (urgent / not urgent). The four types of tasks are called A, B, C and D tasks and are divided into four quadrants (Quadrants I, II, III and IV).

A certain type of processing is assigned to each type of task. D-tasks are not done.

urgency
urgent not urgent
importance  important  A / I
Do it yourself immediately 		B / II
Schedule and do it yourself
not
important 		C / III
Delegate to competent employees 		D / IV
Do not edit (trash can)

The Eisenhower principle can be used effectively as a further development of a triage in the service when resources are scarce .

Nowadays, this principle is sometimes viewed critically, as good time management should prevent tasks from being pushed to the fore as urgent. The prioritization and division of the tasks is therefore mainly carried out according to the criterion "importance". The basis of the criticism is u. a. the realization that important tasks are seldom urgent and urgent tasks are seldom important.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Address at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Dwight D. Eisenhower (August 19, 1954), archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on December 3, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Stephen R. Covey: Focus. Achieving your highest priorities . Brilliance Audio, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4558-9360-7 .