A Taxonomy of Procrastination
My colleague, Laura Nicholson, and I were discussing various topics over Skype one night, and I at one point mentioned my primitive system of classifying the myriad types of procrastination. We fleshed out some details together, made some terminology more specific, and eventually developed a fairly descriptive and useful (in my opinion) taxonomy for describing procrastination.
So, without further ado, I present the Tang-Nicholson System for Procrastination Classification.
Types of procrastination are given two attributes: class and level. Procrastination class can take on one of the following three values:
- Class 1
- Procrastination from a productive task by either not doing anything at all, or doing something purely recreational, e.g. playing video games, reading a book, or spending time with friends.
- Class 2
- Procrastination from a productive task by performing other productive tasks that are lower in priority, e.g. doing the dishes, running errands, or doing assignments due at a later date.
- Class 3
- Procrastination from a productive task by focusing and obsessing over details related to the task, e.g. learning LaTeX in order to typeset an essay, copying problem sets to make them neater, or obsessively refactoring code instead of finishing features.
Procrastination level is a positive integer that, in relative terms, describes how far removed from the actual productive task an activity is. Since procrastination can be composed with itself, this metric measures the level of nesting. For example, if one’s original task was writing an essay, imagine the following procrastination composition: write essay, learn LaTeX to write essay, configure Emacs for editing LaTeX, submit patch for bug in Emacs. The final step, submitting a patch for a bug in Emacs, is a class 3, level 3 form of procrastination. In fact, all of these steps are class 3, with level ranging from level 1 for learning LaTeX to level 3 for the last step.
And there you have it: a simple, concise way to precisely define how you are wasting your time.
Quick, what level of procrastination was I at when I first thought of this system instead of doing my psets?
Why can’t you just binge drink like a normal college kid?
I am kidding harder than I have ever kidded.
Dude, why is it not the Nicholson-Tang Taxonomy of Procrastination? …kidding! =P
And I’m actually not quite sure what level of procrastination that would be…because when it started I think it can easily be considered Class 1 or 2, depending on whether you think its useful. However, it immediately progresses to Class 3 as you begin to flesh out the details. It’s actually a tricky example!
Love it
Hah, I was going to ask you that question before I got to the end of the post.
Having googled “augmenting egg omelet with tofu” as I procrastinated getting in some exercise, your site was listed because of the following post “Just because a few recipes happen to call for eggs and a skillet doesn’t mean every omelet needs them. Throw some tofu and cheese on a piece of tinfoil…” It didn’t answer the question but having a geek son doing medical research, and having been a geek for thirty years, I was tempted to look at some of your other posts. Now having your “Taxonomy of procrastination” (which I will share with other supreme procrastinators) I don’t feel so alone in what I deem one of my worst character traits. It’s also nice to know the current generation of geeks appreciates the finer points of delay. I’ve read much from writers who think procrastination is a behavior that can be modified, but in spite of sincere attempts I haven’t found a cure for the trait myself. Just yesterday I heard from a friend, who as well as being another geek is also an appeals court judge, who lamented his work piling up on his desk, including three death row cases. His angst was palpable. So as taxonomy is the first level of greater understanding, I have hopes that this work will lead to more interest in finding a cure.