2 minutes rule problems

[Borisoff]

What would you do if you get a task and it turns to be a Project that you put into your system. When you decide the first NA it turns out to be less then 2 minutes and you do it now. When finished you decide a new NA and it turns to be less then 2 minutes either. And so forth :) There's a chance that you would be doing one project only without a chance going to other maybe more important NAs :) Or you have some tricks?

Regards,

Eugene.

[thoppa]

I don't think this is a problem. Even if the next 10 NAs can be accomplished in under 2 minutes, you've spent only 20 minutes. Presumably, getting 10 NAs done on a project is a very good thing, so spending 20 minutes doesn't seem like a problem.

The problem comes when you are wrong about 2 minutes. It's a deceptively short time. I find that I frequently under-estimate the time required, and what seems like 2 minutes, is closer to 5.

[jkgrossi]

What would you do if you get a task and it turns to be a Project that you put into your system. When you decide the first NA it turns out to be less then 2 minutes and you do it now. When finished you decide a new NA and it turns to be less then 2 minutes either. And so forth :) There's a chance that you would be doing one project only without a chance going to other maybe more important NAs :) Or you have some tricks?

Regards,

Eugene.

Eugene, IMHO it doesn't matter if you pick up 10 tasks that each take 2 minutes, whether or not they are separate tasks or related to a project.

They're all still 2-minute tasks and should be handled appropriately. Why would we descriminate against them just because they're part of a bigger outcome?

[DoingIt]

What would you do if you get a task and it turns to be a Project that you put into your system. When you decide the first NA it turns out to be less then 2 minutes and you do it now. When finished you decide a new NA and it turns to be less then 2 minutes either. And so forth :)

I don't see it as a problem, so long as you do the NAs in a short period of time as already commented by others. What's important is to make sure that the task (project) concerned is not overlooked when you do your Weekly Review.

[Scott_L_Lewis]

Eugene,

To extend on thoppa's example, if your average ratio of two-minute tasks to longer tasks is ten percent, then the chance of encountering 10 two-minute tasks in a row is one in ten billion. I think you have a higher chance of being hit on the head by an asteroid.