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Field Notes · Issue 020 · 24 May 2026 · 5 min read

What belongs on today, what belongs on someday

The editorial call that makes Command Center work. Two lists, one clear boundary, and how Holi decides which items cross the line.

Command Center is a today list. That works because there is a separate someday list, and a clear boundary between them.

What earns a place on today

Three tests, in order:

  1. Someone is waiting on a reply. From you, in a thread Holi can see. Reply drafts sit under the item.
  2. A signal changed overnight. A candidate moved, a client posted, a spec shifted. Source-linked.
  3. A decision Holi needs from you. Small choices that unblock the loop, phrased as one question with two suggested answers.

Anything failing all three lands on someday.

What someday is for

Long-cycle work. Roles that are alive but not active this week. Candidates you want to nurture without pushing. Clients you plan to check in with next quarter. It is a real list, not a graveyard, and it gets reviewed once a week during the Monday digest, not every morning.

Why the boundary matters

Because without it, everything you might want to do lands on today, today becomes a hundred items, and Command Center becomes the dashboard it was designed not to be.

The editorial call ("this belongs on today, that belongs on someday") is the actual work Command Center does for you. Holi runs the call by default. You override where you disagree. The overrides become training signal for the following week.

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Asked, and answered

Who decides what crosses from someday to today?
Holi does, based on signal change. You can override in either direction. Overrides are logged in the weekly digest so the editorial call gets sharper.
Why not one long list?
Because one long list is a dashboard. Two lists with a clear boundary force the editorial call, which is the whole point of Command Center.

About the author

James Doyle

Founder, HOLI

James founded HOLI to build a partner for specialist recruiters — the kind that captures the intelligence you gather and turns it into the action that wins the role. Twenty years in specialist search across healthcare, behavioural health, and creative.

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Cite this piece

James Doyle (2026). What belongs on today, what belongs on someday. Field Notes, HOLI. https://hey-holi.com/field-notes/today-list-vs-someday-list

Published 24 May 2026.

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