An A unit, in railroad terminology, is a locomotive (generally a diesel or electric locomotive) equipped with a driving cab, or crew compartment, and the control system to control other locomotives in a multiple unit, and therefore able to be the lead unit in a consist of several locomotives controlled from a single position. This terminology is generally used in North America, since only there was it commonplace to build B units—cabless locomotive units which normally could not lead a train.
Typical driving cab features, and therefore A unit features, include windshields, rectangular side windows, crew seats, heating, and sometimes, radios, air conditioning and toilets. B units always lack all of these features, except that some EMD F-units have an extra porthole-style side window(s) for a hostler (an employee permitted to move a locomotive in a yard only — not on the road).
This terminology has fallen out of use for newer locomotives, since it only really applied to the cab unit style of locomotive. Thus, the term cab unit is used only when an A unit has a carbody design. Hood unit "road switcher" types were generally equipped with driving cabs and the term "A unit" was not generally applied to them, although the rare cabless road switchers were still called B units.
Mark Forster is a British author best known for three books on time management. A business coach until he retired on 24 November 2008, in the past he has also worked for the British Army, Ministry of Defence and the Church of England.
His biggest selling book to date is "Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management," which challenges some traditional practices in time management with four simple tasks and seven principles.
The four tasks of his "quick start guide" are:
The seven principles are:
Together, these form the foundation for what is the "do it tomorrow" (DIT) time management system.
Forster compares time management choices to those made when ordering from a menu in a restaurant. There is only a finite amount of food one can eat and a finite amount of time in a day, so each choice has a logical opportunity cost. The amount of work accomplished is a combination of creativity and efficiency, and can only be increased by (A) improving efficiency, (B) reducing the total number of tasks, or (C) increasing available time. Prioritized task lists only postpone problems of efficiency, which Forster asserts are the major factor in time management. By reducing "busy work," more time is made available for "real work" but many workers have an unrealistic sense of how much is possible. Improved efficiency alone cannot solve fundamental problems of work-life balance. Forster asserts that "goals are as much about what we are not going to do as they are about what we are going to do." Proper attention to minor tasks prevents emergencies. Same-day or next-day responses are perfectly adequate in many cases, and judicious use of "closed lists" increases efficiency, regardless of the order in which finite tasks are completed. Strategic use of delay and closed lists is what Forster calls "the mañana principle." Incoming tasks are thus "scheduled forward."