Task Triage Matrix Skill
Task lists overwhelm because everything on them claims equal standing — the strategic project and the reply-to-Bob sit as peers, and urgency (the loudest signal) wins by default, which is how important-not-urgent work starves for months. The classic urgent/important matrix helps but needs two honest corrections: urgency is usually inherited, not assessed (someone else's "ASAP" is a claim, not a fact — audit it), and the matrix without verbs is a mural — every task leaves triage with one of four: do (now, timeboxed), schedule (a real calendar block, not "later"), delegate (with the delegation-brief), or drop (explicitly, with permission granted).
What This Skill Produces
- The sorted list — every task placed: urgent×important with the two corrections applied, each with its verb
- The urgency audit — the fake-urgent unmasked (inherited ASAPs, self-imposed phantom deadlines) with real dates attached
- The drop list — the tasks leaving the list forever, with the permission framing that makes dropping stick
- The intake rule — the one-question gate that keeps the list from re-bloating
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- The list, complete — everything: the tool's tasks, the sticky notes, the head's carry (weekly-review-ritual sweep-grade completeness); triaging half a list re-runs next week
- What important means here — importance needs a referent: the quarter's goals, the role's real mandate ("important to whom, for what?"); without it the matrix runs on mood
- The real deadlines vs. the claimed — per urgent-claiming task: who set the date, what actually happens if it slips (the audit's raw material)
- The delegation reality — who could take what; a delegate-verb with nobody to receive it is a schedule-verb in denial
Framework: The Triage Rules
- Audit urgency before honoring it: each "urgent" task gets two questions — who says, and what breaks on slip? Inherited ASAPs with no real consequence get re-dated honestly; genuinely-urgent-and-unimportant gets the batch treatment (one power-hour, not prime time). The audit routinely deflates a third of the list's urgency, which is the whole game — urgency is the currency of other people's priorities.
- Importance needs the referent stated: "important" = moves the named goals or the role's core mandate — written at the top of the triage. Tasks important to someone else's goals are delegation or negotiation candidates, not automatic residents.
- Four verbs, no residents without one: do (today, timeboxed — max 2–3) · schedule (a dated calendar block; "later" is not a date) · delegate (with the brief; "ask X" is itself a small do-task) · drop (see rule 4). A task with no verb after triage is triage refusing its own job.
- Dropping is a feature with a ceremony: the drop list gets said out loud — "these seven are leaving: they've been here six weeks and their absence costs nothing" — with the safety valve for the anxious: a
_someday file that's reviewed never by default (dropped-with-a-net beats hoarded). The six-week-untouched rule nominates candidates automatically.
- The intake gate prevents the sequel: every new task answers one question at the door — "what's the verb and when?" — do-now, scheduled, delegated, or declined at intake (recurring-meeting-pruner door logic, applied to tasks). Lists re-bloat through unverbed intake; the gate is the maintenance system, and triage-the-event is just the reset.
Output Format
Task Triage: [N] tasks — importance referent: [the goals/mandate]
The Sort
| Task |
Urgent? (audited) |
Important? (to the referent) |
Verb |
When/who |
The Urgency Audit
[The deflated: task → claimed vs. real deadline → re-dated · the genuinely-urgent-unimportant batch hour]
The Drop List (with permission)
[The leavers + the six-week evidence · the _someday net for the anxious]
The Intake Gate
[The door question · the decline scripts for the incoming]
Quality Checks
Anti-Patterns
1---2name: task-triage-matrix3description: Triage an overwhelming task list into what actually gets done — the urgent/important sort applied honestly (with the two corrections the classic matrix needs), the do/schedule/delegate/drop verbs, and the list hygiene that keeps triage from becoming a weekly archaeology dig. Use when asked my task list is overwhelming, triage my todos, everything feels urgent, or what should I actually work on. Produces the sorted list with verbs, the urgency audit (what's fake-urgent), the drop list with permission, and the intake rule.4---5
6# Task Triage Matrix Skill
7
8Task lists overwhelm because everything on them claims equal standing — the strategic project and the reply-to-Bob sit as peers, and urgency (the loudest signal) wins by default, which is how important-not-urgent work starves for months. The classic urgent/important matrix helps but needs two honest corrections: *urgency is usually inherited, not assessed* (someone else's "ASAP" is a claim, not a fact — audit it), and *the matrix without verbs is a mural* — every task leaves triage with one of four: do (now, timeboxed), schedule (a real calendar block, not "later"), delegate (with the [delegation-brief](../delegation-brief/SKILL.md)), or drop (explicitly, with permission granted).
9
10## What This Skill Produces
11
12- **The sorted list** — every task placed: urgent×important with the two corrections applied, each with its verb
13- **The urgency audit** — the fake-urgent unmasked (inherited ASAPs, self-imposed phantom deadlines) with real dates attached
14- **The drop list** — the tasks leaving the list forever, with the permission framing that makes dropping stick
15- **The intake rule** — the one-question gate that keeps the list from re-bloating
16
17## Required Inputs
18
19Ask for these if not provided:
20- **The list, complete** — everything: the tool's tasks, the sticky notes, the head's carry ([weekly-review-ritual](../weekly-review-ritual/SKILL.md) sweep-grade completeness); triaging half a list re-runs next week
21- **What important means here** — importance needs a referent: the quarter's goals, the role's real mandate ("important to whom, for what?"); without it the matrix runs on mood
22- **The real deadlines vs. the claimed** — per urgent-claiming task: who set the date, what actually happens if it slips (the audit's raw material)
23- **The delegation reality** — who could take what; a delegate-verb with nobody to receive it is a schedule-verb in denial
24
25## Framework: The Triage Rules
26
271. **Audit urgency before honoring it:** each "urgent" task gets two questions — *who says, and what breaks on slip?* Inherited ASAPs with no real consequence get re-dated honestly; genuinely-urgent-and-unimportant gets the batch treatment (one power-hour, not prime time). The audit routinely deflates a third of the list's urgency, which is the whole game — urgency is the currency of other people's priorities.
282. **Importance needs the referent stated:** "important" = moves the named goals or the role's core mandate — written at the top of the triage. Tasks important to *someone else's* goals are delegation or negotiation candidates, not automatic residents.
293. **Four verbs, no residents without one:** do (today, timeboxed — max 2–3) · schedule (a dated calendar block; "later" is not a date) · delegate (with the brief; "ask X" is itself a small do-task) · drop (see rule 4). A task with no verb after triage is triage refusing its own job.
304. **Dropping is a feature with a ceremony:** the drop list gets said out loud — "these seven are leaving: they've been here six weeks and their absence costs nothing" — with the safety valve for the anxious: a `_someday` file that's *reviewed never by default* (dropped-with-a-net beats hoarded). The six-week-untouched rule nominates candidates automatically.
315. **The intake gate prevents the sequel:** every new task answers one question at the door — "what's the verb and when?" — do-now, scheduled, delegated, or declined *at intake* ([recurring-meeting-pruner](../recurring-meeting-pruner/SKILL.md) door logic, applied to tasks). Lists re-bloat through unverbed intake; the gate is the maintenance system, and triage-the-event is just the reset.
32
33## Output Format
34
35# Task Triage: [N] tasks — importance referent: [the goals/mandate]
36
37## The Sort
38| Task | Urgent? (audited) | Important? (to the referent) | Verb | When/who |
39|---|---|---|---|---|
40
41## The Urgency Audit
42[The deflated: task → claimed vs. real deadline → re-dated · the genuinely-urgent-unimportant batch hour]
43
44## The Drop List (with permission)
45[The leavers + the six-week evidence · the `_someday` net for the anxious]
46
47## The Intake Gate
48[The door question · the decline scripts for the incoming]
49
50## Quality Checks
51
52- [ ] Every urgent claim was audited to its source and consequence
53- [ ] Importance references stated goals, not mood
54- [ ] Every task left with one of the four verbs
55- [ ] The drop list was dropped explicitly, net included
56- [ ] The intake gate is installed with its question
57
58## Anti-Patterns
59
60- [ ] Do not honor inherited urgency unaudited — other people's ASAPs are claims, and claims get checked
61- [ ] Do not let do-today exceed three — a nine-item today is a wish list wearing a deadline
62- [ ] Do not schedule to "later" — later is where tasks go to become archaeology
63- [ ] Do not hoard the unimportant-nonurgent quadrant — six weeks untouched is the list's own verdict
64- [ ] Do not skip the gate — triage without intake discipline is a diet with free dessert
gabrielmoreira