What are microtasks and why they take a weight off your mind

What a microtask is

A microtask is a specific action you can finish in 30 minutes or less, usually in one go and without having to prepare anything. «Confirm the meeting time», «send the signed quote» or «ask for the order number» are examples.

The difference from a task isn't importance, it's shape. A task, like «prepare the proposal for a client», takes time, steps and often a date. A microtask has no steps: you either do it or you don't.

In duokim we use a simple rule: more than 30 minutes, task; 30 minutes or less, microtask; and if it's 5 minutes or less, «micro». There's no need to time anything: it's a quick way to decide where each thing goes.

Why small things weigh so much

Small things have one problem: there are lots of them. A list with ten two-hour tasks and forty five-minute things looks like a mountain, even though the forty small things together might not fill a morning.

When small and big tasks share the same list, two things happen. First, the small ones distract you from the big ones: every time you open the list to work on something important, you see five easy ones that you do now «while you're at it». Second, the big ones make the small ones seem unimportant, so you keep putting them off until someone chases you for them.

Separating them isn't a magic method. It's order: each kind of work has its time and place.

How to recognise a microtask

Three questions help you decide in a second:

• Can I do it now, without preparing anything? If you need to find documents, think through a strategy or talk to three people, it's a task.
• Does it have a single step? If you can describe it with a verb and an object («send the invoice»), it's probably a microtask.
• Does it fit in 30 minutes? If in doubt, it's a task: better to undershoot than leave it half done.

If a microtask grows while you're doing it (the call that was meant to take five minutes opens up a new topic), that's fine: close it and create a new task for whatever came up.

Four ways to lighten the load

1. Note them down where they arise. Most come from an email or a meeting. If you note them down there and then, you no longer have to remember them.
2. Batch them. Set aside a 30- or 45-minute block to clear a few in a row. Switching context costs less when they're all alike.
3. Decide with three actions. For each microtask: done, later or remove. If you're never going to do it, removing it is progress too.
4. Don't turn them into projects. A microtask doesn't need labels, colour-coded priorities or subtasks. The less admin, the better.

Some people apply the two-minute rule from the GTD method: if something takes two minutes, do it now. It works well for «micros», but not for all microtasks: if you spend the day doing two-minute things, you never get to the tasks that matter. That's why it's worth having a block set aside.

The source matters

A microtask without context is a trap. «Reply to Marta» doesn't tell you what about, where the email is, or what she asked for. By the time you get to it, you spend more time hunting for the context than doing it.

That's why it helps for every microtask to remember where it came from: the message, the meeting or the note. Opening it with the original email right beside it turns a ten-minute job into a two-minute one.

In duokim, when you turn an email into a task or microtask, its source stays linked. And Kim, the assistant, can suggest creating one when it reads a message that calls for it; you decide whether to create it, edit it or discard it.

Common mistakes

When you start separating tasks and microtasks, it's easy to fall into a few traps:

• Making everything a microtask so the list looks shorter. A two-hour task split into half-hour «microtasks» is still a task, and you lose sight of the whole.
• Doing the microtasks first «to get them out of the way» every day. If they always go first, the important tasks are left for your lowest-energy hours.
• Never quite closing them. A microtask left «almost done» weighs as much as a new one. If you can't finish it, put it back on the list with what's left.
• Writing them without a verb. «Joan invoice» doesn't say whether you need to send it, check it or pay it. A verb at the start saves a re-read.

None of these mistakes is serious. You fix them by looking over the list once a week and asking yourself whether each thing is where it belongs.

An example from an ordinary day

Picture a Tuesday with three meetings and thirty-odd emails. Before lunch you have:

• one task: prepare the proposal for the new client (two hours, with data you need to ask for);
• six microtasks: confirm a meeting, send a contract, request an invoice, answer a quick question, book a room and forward a document.

If you mix everything up, it's easy to spend the morning on the six small things and leave the proposal for the afternoon, when you're already tired. If you separate them, you can do the proposal first thing and clear the six microtasks in a 40-minute block after lunch.

What changes isn't the amount of work, but how you feel looking at the list: you have one important thing and a group of small things, not thirty-six identical to-dos.

How tasks and microtasks work in duokim

Frequently asked questions

Article by the duokim team. If you spot a mistake, write to us and we'll correct it.