The to-do function

[Todo: add diagrams]

I think it's good to have nuance around task deadlines. How I think about this is that there's a (net) benefit to doing a task. That benefit generally declines over time*, but the functional form varies a bit.

For some things (e.g. tax returns) there's this kinda cliff-edge drop-off, where it's basically not any better to submit it Nov 1st vs Dec 1st, but it's way better to submit Dec 31st vs. Jan 1st.

For other things, I think that the drop off is pretty slow/even totally smooth. And it's just about getting it done sooner. I think that most things are more like this latter category.

When are deadlines useful?

In the case where the value diminishes smoothly, I think for some people, setting deadlines at all is a distraction/stress-inducer without much benefit.

I'd rather just know that I'll do it when I can. This makes me less stressed and I think also better reflects the reality of the benefit/time curve, which means I can prioritize better: e.g. if I know that the benefit is dropping off smoothly, and a new high-priority thing comes up, it's easier to switch to the high-priority thing rather than getting stuck on meeting the deadline.

I think deadlines can also be a tool for coordination, and it's important to do this cooperatively (e.g. if someone else gives you a deadline, try to meet it or renegotiate it). I know that people's psychology on this varies - I think you like deadlines - but it might be helpful to see another perspective!

For some things, it's actually better to complete them closer to the due date (when you might have more information and/or be more intrinsically motivated to do them).

“Best before” and “Expiry”

I now basically don't use deadlines at all, but one thing that I tried for a bit and liked is having two dates for tasks:

• "Best before": roughly, the date at which the value of completing the task is most rapidly declining.
• "Expiry": The date at which there is approximately no value completing the task.

(In analogy to food labels.)

Some tasks have both (e.g. it's best to fill in our meeting agenda by Monday evening, and it's useless to fill in the meeting agenda after we've had the meeting). Some just have an expiry date (in which case, if you failed to meet the expiry date (e.g. the task wasn't super important), you can just delete it at that point). Some just have a best before (e.g. with the focused CEA announcement it would be most valuable to share that with the team before all hands, but it would basically always be valuable to share it).

This is still simplifying the true thing which is the benefit/time curve, but I think it lets a bit more nuance in.