The method
From “I need to do that” to “it's done”.
Six stages, in order. The order is the point: most tools start at stage five, and make you faster at work that should not have existed.
Capture
Get it out of your head.
Write down tasks, problems, commitments, frustrations and avoided work without trying to solve or organise any of it yet.
Asks: What needs attention? What keeps returning? What am I avoiding? What is frustrating me?
The problem is visible.
Challenge
Should this even exist?
Question the task, the process and the assumptions before getting more efficient at doing them. This is the stage that pays for the rest.
Asks: Why do we do this? Who needs it? What happens if we stop? Are we solving the real problem or preserving a habit?
Only work that deserves to exist survives.
Simplify
Find the shortest sensible path.
Clarify the outcome, break the work down, remove steps and decisions, and make the next action obvious.
Asks: What is the actual outcome? Which step adds no value? Can this be smaller, clearer or easier?
There is a clear path forward.
Remove friction
Make progress easier.
Find the interruptions, the duplicate entry, the missing information, the waiting, the awkward systems and the unnecessary approvals.
Asks: Where do we lose time? What makes us reluctant to start? Where is information entered twice? Where does work wait?
Progress requires less effort.
Accelerate
Use the right leverage.
Only now consider automation, integration, templates, delegation or new software. The aim is not more technology; it is less unnecessary human effort.
Asks: Is the work repetitive and predictable? Can existing systems talk to each other? Would automating it save more effort than it creates?
Less effort produces the same result, or a better one.
Finish
PYFFO.
Define done, choose the next action, give it a time, work in focused blocks and ship the achievable piece. Do not let polishing become procrastination.
Asks: What is the next action? When will it happen? What does done mean? Am I improving this, or avoiding finishing it?
It is done.
Then it loops. Finishing something teaches you what slowed it down, what repeated and what could be easier next time: action → learning → less friction → more momentum.
At every stage there is one question underneath: is this helping progress, or creating friction?
In the app
What makes it a method rather than a list.
It asks the awkward question
Every kind of friction has a conversation, and every conversation contains a question that challenges the work rather than speeding it up. For duplicated entry it is “if you stopped keeping the second copy, who would notice?” Those are the questions a questionnaire cannot ask.
Scores order the work; quantities carry the cost
Frequency, time, reach and impact decide what to do first. How often, how long and how many people decide what it costs. The two are captured separately and never derived from each other, because a 1–5 score is not evidence about hours.
Every figure shows its working
A priority of 30.0 is shown as 180 ÷ (3 + 1 + 2). If you
disagree with a number, you can see which answer to change rather than
arguing with a black box.
It counts each problem once
Two people describing the same problem is one problem. PYFFO points at the pair, says what made it look, and holds the smaller figure back from the total until a person decides — never merging anything on its own.
It measures what came back
Estimated, confirmed and current are three separate numbers. An improvement you hoped for is not an improvement you had, and one that quietly came back is not still recovering.
It will tell you to leave things alone
Leave it is a real answer, decided once, rather than something that sits on a list making you feel guilty every week.