Daily
What I Do
I’ve evolved my EDC process toolbox over the years. This is an outline of what I do, independent of the specific applications and services I typically use.
The details for Activities, Principles, and Guidelines are in the Reference section, with links below.
North Stars
Section titled “North Stars”These are meta-North Stars — they guide my approach to process itself. (They’re different from the North Stars for a given project.)
Prioritize and Defer
Section titled “Prioritize and Defer”There is never enough time or resources to do everything you’d like. For me, most decision-making starts with “What can we do later?” and then “What must we do now?”
Don’t Gamble If You Can Avoid It
Section titled “Don’t Gamble If You Can Avoid It”I am risk-averse. I perpetually make tradeoff decisions, so I try to structure options and their possible outcomes as weighted dice-rolls rather than Russian Roulette.
You can’t avoid all risks, but you can ask: “Is this foolish?” “How can I minimize painful consequences?” “How sure are we?”
When confidence is low, I try to defer. If a simple deferral isn’t an option, I’ll try to find a workaround or even a band-aid. I’d rather use a stop-gap than commit effort that might be wasted, expensive, and hard to undo.
Are You Sure?
Section titled “Are You Sure?”Before committing to an action — a plan or actual work — I double- and triple-check our assessment. A bit of extra time spent being deliberate can save a lot of wasted effort.
Good questions to ask:
- What are the alternatives?
- What other interpretations or conclusions exist?
- Can we imagine any blindspots?
Organize
Section titled “Organize”Deliberate, clear thinking takes repeated work. Much of that work is organization — putting things in the right buckets.
Consistent and Repeatable
Section titled “Consistent and Repeatable”A lightweight, simple process that you regularly use beats an elaborate one you follow sporadically. Following guidelines should be a reflex. A little process overhead might be tolerable when introducing something new, but be careful. It’s more important to have a sustainable routine than to earn a gold star for completing some kind of process punch card.
Goldilocks Principle
Section titled “Goldilocks Principle”The details are here, but the basic idea is to balance among tradeoffs: do what works and what is enough for the moment.
Resist the temptation to over-design, over-plan, and over-think.
Activities
Section titled “Activities”The frequency listed is a backstop; I may do an activity more often, but at least with that regularity.
Weekly
Quarterly
As Needed
Principles & Guidelines
Section titled “Principles & Guidelines”Primary
Occasional
Starting a New Project
Section titled “Starting a New Project”Starting a new project is a special case, as it may not be clear how to begin or how to apply the playbook. The details are in this recipe.