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.
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Use task-triage-matrix to triage [complete task list] against [quarterly goals or role mandate] and [real deadlines plus delegation availability], producing an urgency audit, sorted do/schedule/delegate/drop list, drop list, and intake rule.
Required inputs
[complete task list]
[quarterly goals or role mandate]
[real deadlines plus delegation availability]
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SKILL.md
name: task-triage-matrixdescription: "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."
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.