Rhythm · Proving to Organising
Planning in weeks
You start every week with a week focus and a board holding only what can get done, and on Friday you close it with a decision on every card that's still open.
Does this sound familiar?
- On Monday there are thirty things on your list. By Friday there are still twenty-eight, and fifteen new ones have joined them.
- You've been busy all week, and on Friday you can't say what's actually done.
- The same task has been on the list for six weeks. Nobody takes it off and nobody picks it up.
- The tasks for your priorities only get looked at in the last two weeks of the quarter.
Who it's for, and when
For anyone who's busy all quarter and still misses their priorities at the end of it. It starts to matter as soon as the work no longer fits in one person's head.
The model
A quarter is too long to steer by. What you don't pick up in week two, you only notice in week twelve. So you cut it into weeks. Every week has a fixed length and one goal: on Monday you choose what fits in it, on Friday you look at what's done and decide about the rest.
Everything that has to happen at some point goes in the backlog, including the tasks under your priorities and projects. This week's board holds only what you'll finish this week, in columns such as to do, in progress and done. The rest stays in the backlog and doesn't need your attention this week. After a few weeks you know how much you really finish in a week.
Everyone puts their own cards on the board and closes them themselves. Whoever leads the team chooses the week focus with the team and makes sure the priorities are on it; they don't fill everyone else's week. In Proving, one board with a few colleagues is enough. From Organising onwards, everyone has their own board and the team has a team board.
You choose which three things from this board you'll do today in the lesson Starting the day well. Whatever gets stuck this week goes to the weekly meeting from the lesson A meeting that's about something.
Verne Harnish's weekly rhythm (Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, 2002; Scaling Up, 2014), with the column board from Kanban (David J. Anderson, 2010) and the personal board of Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry (Personal Kanban, 2011). The fixed period with a single goal comes from the Scrum sprint.
A fixed week
Monday to Friday. The week doesn't get longer because the work isn't done. If it isn't done, you decide what happens to it.
One week focus
One sentence that says what's in place on Friday if the week went well, such as 'the quote for the new client is with the client'. If something comes up midweek, that sentence helps you choose what comes first. 'Keep clients happy' doesn't help with that.
Only what can get done
A step from your priorities first, then the rest. Don't put on more than you finish in a normal week. If a task is bigger than a week, split it up.
Closing the week
On Friday you choose for each open card: to next week, back to the backlog, or not achieved. That way nothing rolls over by itself. Then one question: what will we do differently next week?
Pitfalls
Only day-to-day work on the board
The board is full of emails, client questions and firefighting, and the tasks for your priorities never make it on. What you never schedule won't be done by the end of the quarter.
The leader fills everyone's board
If the leader sets out everyone's cards every Monday, they're the leader's cards. On Friday nobody closes them, and people wait for the next list.
Watch and read
The man who came up with the rhythm, on the fifteen minutes that close your week: what's done, and what you take into next week.
Watch on YouTubeIn Dutch and just over a minute long: a team that starts the week together at the board, and when a weekly start suits a team better than a daily one.
Watch on YouTubeHow a board with columns works: making the work visible and not starting more at once than you finish.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Personal Kanban: Mapping Work, Navigating Life
Jim Benson en Tonianne DeMaria Barry · 2011 · ISBN 9781453802267
The column board for your own work and that of a small team, with two rules: make your work visible and don't take on too much at once. Short and practical.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Close last week first
Look at every card that's still open: next week, back to the backlog, or not achieved? Only then do you plan the new week.
- 2
Write the week focus in one sentence
What has to be in place on Friday for this week to count as a success? Write it so that on Friday you can answer yes or no.
- 3
Put a step from your priorities on first
Which step towards your priorities are you taking this week? That goes on the board first, before the day-to-day work fills the space.
- 4
After a few weeks, look at what you really finish
How many cards do you get to Done on average? That number is your measure. From then on, don't plan more than that.
Examples
Ready to use: Monday and Friday
Monday, 20 minutes, with the team. Whoever leads the team runs it. Before you start: everyone has closed last week and knows where their priorities stand. 0 to 5 minutes: the week focus, in one sentence you can answer with yes or no on Friday. 5 to 15 minutes: everyone puts their own cards on the board, a step from the priorities first, then the rest, and names them out loud. 15 to 20 minutes: who needs what from whom this week? Agreed by the end: the week focus is at the top, and nobody's board holds more than they finish in a normal week. Friday, 15 minutes, the same people. 0 to 5 minutes: did we hit the week focus, yes or no? 5 to 12 minutes: everyone closes their open cards: to next week, back to the backlog, or not achieved. 12 to 15 minutes: what will we do differently next week? One thing. Anything that's stuck and won't be solved today goes on the list for the weekly meeting. If the team already has a team meeting on Monday (the lesson A meeting that's about something), have everyone put their cards on beforehand and choose the week focus in that meeting.
An installation company
Every week the work planner put everything that still had to be done on the board. Now he starts with the week focus 'the schedule for the new project is ready and shared with the engineers' and puts eight tasks on instead of thirty. On Friday the schedule is done, and the rest is in the backlog.
A task that keeps sitting there
'Look into a stock system' had been carried over for seven weeks. When closing the week, the owner marks it not achieved and puts it back in the backlog. In the weekly meeting it turns out nobody knows what 'look into' means. He splits it into three tasks that can each be done within a week.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- Go to the Week sprint. Set the Week focus at the top, choose My board or Team board, use Pick up this week to bring in tasks from your priorities and projects, and on Friday finish with Close the week: for each open card, to next week, back to the backlog or not achieved.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
7 situations. You need 6 of 7 right. You can try again at any time.
1.A team lead puts thirty tasks on the board on Monday. By Friday, eight are done. What helps most next week?
2.Which week focus helps most when something comes up midweek?
3.A task has been on the board for six weeks, carried over every time. What do you do when you close the week?
4.A founder has missed his priorities for three quarters in a row. His week board is full of client work and emails. What's the first step?
5.It's a busy week and on Friday half of it isn't done. A colleague suggests letting the week run on until Tuesday. What do you do?
6.When you use Close the week, there's still a quote open that isn't due for three weeks. What do you choose?
7.A team lead sets out the cards for his whole team every Monday. On Friday lots of them are still open, and nobody closes them. What do you change?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Read next
- A meeting that's about something · Your weekly meeting, team meeting and monthly meeting each have a fixed agenda with timings, and every meeting ends with decisions that have an owner, and with what you'll tell your people.
- Commitments you keep · You ask for things so the other person knows what has to be done and by when, you only say yes when you can deliver, and you speak up before the agreed day if it isn't going to happen.
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