Most of what you have started is not moving, and most of it is not moving for one of five reasons. Each reason has one question that settles it. Answer the question for each thing you have not touched in a month, and you will know which ones are waiting on a decision, which ones are waiting on a person, and which ones you have already decided against and not said so. There is a printable PDF if you would rather print it.
Write down everything you have started and have not touched in a month. Not tasks; things. A side product, a course, a room you meant to set up, a person you meant to write to. Next to each one, write the reason it stopped from the list below, then answer that reason’s question in one line. Then choose one of three outcomes: decide the next step, park it with a date, or drop it and keep the reason. Every item gets exactly one.
The point is not to restart all of them. The point is to stop carrying the ones you have already decided against.
| It stopped because | Ask yourself | What usually restarts it |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting on someone | Who, since when, and do they know you are waiting? | A delegation pattern, not a discipline one. Half the time the person does not know. The other half, the same name appears on three things and the fix is a conversation, not a reminder. |
| Unclear next step | What is the one concrete thing that would move this, however small? | This is the most common reason and the cheapest to fix. Things stop because the next move was never decided, not because there was no time. Decide one step. Not the plan, the step. |
| Lost interest | If this were finished tomorrow by someone else, would you care? | The most honest reason there is, and the cheapest. If the answer is no, drop it and keep the reason. Dropping something you no longer want is the system working, not failing. |
| No time | When, exactly, and what would have to give? | "No time" is usually "not chosen". Either name the week it gets its time and park it until then, or admit it is one of the two reasons above wearing a calendar. |
| Needs money | How much, by when, and what is the cheapest version that needs none? | A number and a date turn this from a feeling into a plan. Park it with the date. If the cheapest version needs no money at all, that is the next step. |
| Something else | Write the real reason in one sentence. | If it will not fit in a sentence, it is one of the five above and you have not said which. If it does fit, you now have the reason written down, which is the whole audit. |
Six stages, which is enough for anything you would ever write on a card. Most of what stalls is stuck between the first two, never having become a real thing, and the audit above is mostly about admitting that.
| Stage | Means |
|---|---|
| Spark | A thought, written down so it stops taking up room in your head. |
| Shaping | Working out what it actually is, before building anything. |
| Building | Actively being made. |
| Live | It exists in the world. |
| Parked | Deliberately stopped, with a date it comes back. |
| Dropped | Decided against. Kept so the decision survives. |
Six rows to start with. Print more if you need them; most people do.
| The thing | Last moved | Reason | The answer, in one line | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brassdeck is this audit, kept. Every card carries its stage, its next step and a clock that only moves when something real happens, so a card that has not moved fades on the board and asks the question before the month is gone. Parked cards come back on their date. Dropped cards keep their reason. Free has four cards, which is enough to find out whether the fade tells you something.
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