How Aevo ranks
Every open task gets a score. The board orders the tiles by that number: the highest sits at the top left. You never have to work the number out yourself. It helps to know what it is made of, though.
Two reasons to be at the top
A task can become important for two reasons:
- because of the deadline: a binding date is getting closer,
- because of your plan: you set it for a certain day.
Aevo rates both reasons separately and takes the stronger one. The two do not add up. A task planned for today with a deadline in three weeks is at the top because of the plan, and the distant deadline adds nothing on top.
What raises the score
The deadline. Far away it hardly counts. The closer it gets, the faster the score rises. On the day of the deadline it is high, and after the deadline has passed it keeps rising for a while. An overdue task is therefore almost always at the very top, and its tile has a red frame.
Work on. If the day is more than two weeks away, it counts for almost nothing. In the days before, the score rises slowly. On the planned day it jumps noticeably: a plan for today counts far more than one for next week. If the task then stays untouched, the score keeps growing.
Stars. Every star lifts the task by the same amount, whether it is at the top because of the deadline or because of the plan.
Postponing. Every postponement adds to the score and stays until the task is done. This works on the plan side: what you keep putting off comes back with more weight.
Idle time. A task nobody has touched for weeks slowly gains a little weight. The effect is small.
What lowers the score
Paused and Not earlier silence a task. It then counts for only a small fraction and sits at the very bottom. Nothing is deleted: stars, deadline and counted postponements stay and take effect again as soon as the pause ends or the day is reached.
Three examples
The tax return is due in ten days and has no plan. It sits in the middle and rises a little every day. In the last week it overtakes almost everything.
The callback has no deadline, but "Work on" today and one star. It is at the top today. If you do not do it, it sits a little higher tomorrow.
The basement was planned three times and postponed three times. Without a deadline and without stars it still sits far up, with a yellow frame. If you pause it, it drops to the bottom. The yellow frame stays.
Tasks with subtasks
A tile with subtasks shows the highest score of its whole branch. If a step deep down is under pressure, the whole piece of work is at the top. The card "Why this is here" names the step: "Comes from the subtask …".
Subtasks inherit what they lack: deadline, "Work on" and "Paused" from the parent task, and for stars the higher value.
What has no score
Notes, links and files have no score. They are material and do not compete with work for a place. Completed tasks do not count either.
The frames
| Frame | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red | The deadline is today or has passed. |
| Yellow | Postponed three times or more, or the planned day is more than a week ago. |
The yellow frame does not depend on the score. A paused task keeps it too.
The green outline around several tiles is not part of the ranking. It shows what fits into today's free time: Capacity.
The exact answer
This manual gives no formula. The exact answer for each single task comes from the app: a click on the score opens the card "Why this is here" with every reason that counts right now. In the settings under General the same model is summed up in four sentences under "How Aevo ranks".
Try it
- Create two tasks: A with a deadline in a week, B with "Work on" today.
- See which one sits higher. Open the card "Why this is here" for both.
- Give A three stars and see whether it overtakes B.
- Pause B. It drops to the very bottom.