Eisenhower guide

Behind the Scenes

Learn about Eisenhower, the productivity app and guide library built around the proven Eisenhower Matrix time management principle.

About Eisenhower

Our solutions are inspired by the proven Eisenhower Matrix time management principle. Built with simplicity in mind, we provide you with a suite of apps and strategies to focus and work on the most important tasks. While helping you prioritize and plan easily, Eisenhower minimizes stress and increases productivity.
Sure, there are hundreds of to-do apps out there, all promising to help us do our jobs. With Eisenhower, however, we consistently focus on an old-fashioned sounding but widely-accepted tool to support you in actually doing the stuff you are supposed to do: the Eisenhower Matrix.
—Andreas, founder of Eisenhower

The spark that started it all

Sometime in 2011 during a time management training, I was again introduced to the Eisenhower Matrix. Missing a decent app that applied the proven principle and after searching for well-designed alternatives online, I made the decision to start building one on my own. It started as a side project—and it still is—but thanks to you, our users, it has always felt like something much bigger.

A first public release

Around Christmas 2011, I launched a very first web prototype and then, together with a friend, Tim, we quickly rewrote everything from scratch after gaining initial traction. The second web app launched in May 2012 which also provided the logic and interface to enable synchronization with the iOS app.

We initially planned to finish Eisenhower for iPhone in just a few weekends. Our part-time project soon evolved, though, as we put more and more effort into it, delaying its release until months later. We kept testing and polishing until we were absolutely satisfied.

The launch of the iPhone app

Our very first iPhone app finally became available on September 4, 2012, offering the ability to synchronize your tasks with the free web application. Shortly after launch, the Eisenhower Matrix todo app was featured by Apple in more than 120 App Stores, then picked up by The New York Times, TED Ed, and other media wordwide.

Fast forward to today

Today, we also offer a free Eisenhower Matrix canvas template for our users, a paper notepad edition and more. While the entire website and apps already required a full refresh in 2017, it took until 2026 until there was another chance to invest in fully updating the platform again.

Behind the Scenes

Eisenhower is entirely bootstrapped and run part time. The founder Andreas Kwiatkowski is based near Düsseldorf, Germany, where he works at how.fm by day, and tweaks Eisenhower by night. Previously, Andreas also founded the mobile app development studio Rheinfabrik, which he and his co-founder Tim grew from early 2013 until eventually selling the company to Expedia and trivago at the end of 2014.

Get in Touch

Contact us on X or send an e-mail to hello@eisenhower.me.