If you couldn’t tell, the title of this post is a nod to “Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs”, a psychological theory about how we prioritize things as humans. This post isn’t about that theory whatsoever.

This particular hierarchy of needs has to do with prioritizing tasks to accomplish a goal. I am not the master goal setter in the world. I don’t claim to be some sort of planning guru. Far from it. But I have had a thought about a simple way to deal with task lists. It has all been inspired by conversation with my friend and colleague AJ and an article I read on Trello’s blog.