I have a system for managing task attention and work that I’ve developed and used from time to time (particularly on software projects) called a "war list." Today, Steve asked me if I’d formalized it at all, and it seemed like a good blog post topic, so here it goes.

The war list is a list of tasks on a sheet of paper. Yes, this must be real, physical paper. The tasks should be related - tasks for a particular project, for example. If you have multiple projects going, it’s probably best to maintain a separate war list for each project. It provides a nice clean context break between projects.

The war list has several advantages. It helps me stay focused by clearly identifying what my current task or goal is. It helps me segregate work - by refusing to do things that come up immediately, but rather making note of them an doing them after finishing the present task, each work unit is done in one piece. This is particularly useful when developing software and using a version control system — it helps make sure that each changeset/commit accomplishes exactly one thing. It also helps me keep track of things I’ve thought of in a concrete form. They’re all there on paper, or at least the ones which I intend to do, so I don’t forget them. There are probably a number of other benefits also, but in general it’s a pretty nifty idea I’ve found.

The war list itself is just a sheet of paper, in either pen or pencil, which is a list of pending tasks. These tasks can be major or minor. The list is maintained using the following basic rules:

• When you think of something you need to do, don’t do it immediately. Write it down on the war list first. If nothing else, this gets your task on paper and in a concrete form.
• When you need something to do, pick a task (any one by any criteria you deem appropriate) from the remaining tasks on the war list and do it. Complete it before moving on to a different task.
• When you complete a task on the war list, cross it off.
• When the sheet of paper gets full, copy the uncompleted tasks to a new sheet of paper and throw the old away. Ideally, this should only be 4-8 tasks, but it’s flexible.
• When, in the course of working on a task, you spot another thing that needs done, use all means necessary to resist the temptation to do that thing right away. It will distract you. If you’re writing software in a version control system, it will mess up the cleanliness of your commits. If you’re practicing XP, it will cause you to wear two hats simultaneously. Take 10 seconds, add the thing you noticed to the war list, and keep going on your present task. This is a reiteration of the first rule, but it is extremely important in this context.
• It may be that you dive in to a major task, and it breaks itself down into 5 other tasks. That’s OK. If all remaining work on a task has been converted into other tasks on the list, go ahead and cross it off. This can be extremely useful sometimes for a general task — often, I’ll have a vague idea that I need to do X. After starting to do X, I’ll have the initial work done, and then naturally discover that the remaining work consists of steps T, U, and V. Add T, U, and V to the war list, cross off X, and move on. This helps organize work.

Some of this may sound like controlled procrastination. In some ways, it may be. But using a method like this of clearly identifying and tracking pending work, you can keep a good handle on what you’re trying to do and where your project is going.

It’s probably worth noting that the War List is intended as a personal task management strategy. There are some inherent scalability problems if it were to be applied with a group (namely, its dependence on paper). It can probably be applied, however, to personal effort in some group contexts.