Weekly
Planning
As all of you must surely be aware by now, the keys to self-development
are self-awareness and measurement. One of the goals of a productivity
improvement effort is precisely to bring these two elements into a
planning system.
The planning unit
When planning any project or attainment of any goal, firstly there is a
specific 'achieve by' date for the project or goal as a whole. Many
project managers and goal setters also normally split the main goal into
several intermediate tasks for each of which a specific 'achieve by' or
'complete by' date is set. This is perfectly logical. However, this can
sometimes lead to problems when particular intermediate tasks slip. In
this system when priority for a slipped task should be actually increased,
sometimes it is actually reduced. This is simply because other tasks that
are subsequently falling due start crowding out the slipped tasks.
Here's where you need a planning and review unit in addition to
intermediate tasks. A planning unit is a finite stretch of time that is
not too long, not too short, and sufficiently diverse yet repeatable. When
planning your goal - project or life - while breaking the goal into
intermediate tasks also break it down into a set number of time units and
map your tasks into those units. So you will end up with something like
this.
|
Planning Unit |
Tasks to be Completed |
| 1 |
Tasks
1, 2, and 3 |
| 2 |
Tasks
4 and 5 |
| 3 |
Task 6 |
| 4 |
etc. |
The Week as a planning unit
Your preferred planning unit of course can be anything from a day to a
year or even a decade if you like that. What I normally use for a planning
unit is the week. It’s long enough to get things done. It’s short enough
to be at least somewhat predictable. It has seven days that are different
enough to require planning for. It can easily be broken into workdays,
rest days, alternative days and so on.
How to do it
This is how I have broadly broken my week down. Monday to Friday are work
days. The first half of Saturday is Family time. The second half is
Planning and reflection time. Sunday is a personal day to get my things
done. So here the Saturday afternoon is my anchor point for the week. This
is where I stop for a moment to step back and observe whether my life is
going according to my 'master plan' (my vision statement).
Within this framework, every line of activity that I have taken up has its
own planning and reflection day. For instance, Wednesdays from 11 AM to 1
PM is planning time at the office where my team meets to see if we are on
track with our business plan or not and identify priorities to be
addressed before the next planning day comes along.
Tuesdays are finance review days. Thursdays are marketing review days.
Sunday evenings are family review time spent with my wife and children
discussing what we should be doing the next week.
What is weekly planning and review?
Weekly planning and review is given a good two hours - it could be
different for you. In this time, I spend answering a set of questions. I
got this from Stephen Covey's book 'First Things First'. Essentially, it
covers areas like achievements for the week, positive factors during the
past week, Goals for the next week, 'most important' items for the coming
week, etc. You can make up your own list or you can use Stephen Covey's
recommendations.
I use Covey's questions and turn them into a journal. Again the key here
is to journal your thoughts. Writing them down gives your thinking
tremendous clarity and direction. The important things for the week
automatically bubble to the surface blasting through the clutter. And the
more you do it the easier and more effective it becomes.
The primary objective of weekly planning is to identify the 'important'
tasks as opposed to the 'urgent' tasks and ensuring that they too get
done. Your goal at the end of weekly planning is to identify what it is
that will have the most long-term impact and set aside a fixed time to
complete that. Your urgent and fire-fighting tasks will find a way to take
up your time around these important tasks anyway. You will notice however
that all it needs is two to three weeks of such planning of important
tasks for the urgent items to start reducing and coming under control.
Soon, you will also notice then that you will be running your life
according to your plan rather than life running you.
Summary
In conclusion, be sure to use a planning and review unit as part of your
planning process. Keep it short enough so you have visibility. Keep it
long enough to have diversity. And finally definitely stop for a couple of
hours a week and look back to understand where you are and where you want
to go.
By Sandilya Venkatesh
Suggested Reading
First Things First by Robert Merrill, Rebecca Merrill and Stephen Covey
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, The by Stephen Covey |
Writer
Profile
Sandilya Venkatesh manages operations and
delivery for Cepios Software Solutions India (P) ltd., a software company
that is in the area of product development outsourcing. He lives in
Chennai with his wife and two children. He can be contacted at
svenkatesh@cepios.com
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