Timeboxing

Time is our scarcest resource.

Rather than asking:

How much time do I have for a project?

Ask instead:

How much can I get done in X days to move the project forward?

Make X fixed – irrespective of the size of the project.

Make X as small as possible – 2 weeks is a good starting point.

Make learning about what’s riskiest the goal.

After X days, review progress and determine next actions.

This is the basis of time-based iterations

or timeboxing.

The power of timeboxing is that

As long as the world doesn’t come to an end,

that time will come.

Time waits for no one

which can be both a limiting constraint AND

a forcing function for action.

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”

– Leonard Bernstein