Everything the method actually requires — block sizing, buffers, interruptions and weekly review.
A practical time boxing guide: how the method works, how to size blocks, add buffers, handle interruptions and review your week.
This page covers the complete time boxing guide in practice: what to do first, how to turn it into real blocks in your calendar, and how to keep the plan alive when the day changes. Everything below is how we use Hioii ourselves — capture in Brain Dump, choose three outcomes, and box them into 30-minute slots with buffers.
A list tells you what; a box tells you when. Committing to a slot is what makes the work happen.
Start with 30-minute units. Deep work gets two or three consecutive units, admin gets one.
Leave 20% of the day unplanned. Days without slack collapse at the first interruption.
Compare planned versus real time. Adjust estimates instead of blaming discipline.
Start in Brain Dump and empty your head — tasks, ideas, worries — without sorting them. Then mark the three that define a successful day and drag them onto the Time Box grid, where each block is 30 minutes and every block carries a buffer. When something breaks (and it will), Auto-Organize re-plans the rest of the day instead of leaving you with a stale schedule about the complete time boxing guide.
Teams do the same thing in Squad: a shared backlog, delegation with clear owners, and availability that shows busy or blocked slots without exposing the private content of anyone's calendar. Managers see delivery speed and a traffic-light view of what is on track — measurement without surveillance.
Hioii is free to start on the Basic plan, which includes monthly AI credits. Paid plans add more credits, longer history retention, Take Off data export and team features such as seats, shared projects and agent access through MCP.
Between 30 and 90 minutes. Shorter than 30 creates switching overhead; longer than 90 ignores attention limits.
Stop, log the remainder and re-box it. The box protects the rest of your day.