Block Schedules

I’ve been using this block scheduling of 28 day, instead of calander months, for many years now. It suits me and others are welcome to try it. As SALTT was by me; for me, then using Lunar month blocks has leaked into my usage of SALTT, and at some point will be fully implemented as an optional feature.

Blocks of time for blocks of project tasks

This strategy applies a closed list to actions. That is, actions arising in the current period are put onto a list to be done in the next period – then closed off when the next period arises. This means that no further tasks can be added to that list, but all items to be done are to be done. Instead, items arising in the subsequent period are added to a new list. This is one of the principles in Mark Forster’s “Do It Tomorrow” system, but over a longer period.

Lunar blocks and closed lists have been useful to me in assiging future tasks for a proposed stage on a development (this is my situation at the time of writing in coding the MVP for SALTT).

Consider a situation where you are working through a series of versions and you are currently on V0.2.0. You have a set of things you want to do in the next iteration V0.2.1, but will not commence any of them until you have finished the present work. You have scheduled your time as 28 day blocks with the next being 2026-01-28 To 2026-01-24 during which you intend to do the tasks involved in V0.2.1.

Here is how to map that out using SALTT:

Edit the subtree

Move subtrees around to create some space; add a child node V0.2.1 to V0.2 node; add the tasks to be done in the next block to node V0.2.1.

Set the schedules and statuses

Set the Status of the V0.2.1 node to “No Need To Set”

For all the new tasks to be done in the next block set their DSX and DFX to the future block of time (ie 2026-01-28 To 2026-01-24). DSA and DFA should be unset. All those tasks should now have a green clock status icon as they are scheduled to commence at a future time.

When the time comes

The status icons will change according to the date of vieweing, as will the relevant halos of the search results. When searching on Today on the 28th of January, the search halos will become Yellow Clocks indicating that those items are scheduled for commencement: ie today is withing their schedule window.

It is a good idea to limit the number of works in progress. So when ready select and change the one you want to work on to WIP. This sets the DSA and changes the Today results halo to a Yellow WIP.

The other items will still be Yellow Clocks – which could cause distraction. To focus, then their DSXs can be rescheduled. The quick way to do this is to chose the DIT, or Monday buttons. Their status icons will reset to Green Clocks and again turn to Yellow Clocks when the time arrives.