Planning at the right height

Each week we choose what to work on. The best height to choose from is the project.

 PLANNING AT THE RIGHT HEIGHT

 1 [🍃] all the leaves
        too many to choose from
          │
 2 [🌳] just the trunk
        true, but no help this week
          │
 3 [🌿] the tree in between
        trunk, branches, leaves
          │
          ▼
 4 [🔍] zoom to the projects ◀ the main idea
        pick this week's few
          │
          ▼
 5 [🍃] zoom into their leaves
        the tasks for the chosen few
          │
 6 [🗂] the tree in our tools

1. All the leaves

Imagine planning a week by laying out every task we have, large and small, at once. There are too many to compare, and you can't see which belong together. Looking at all the leaves at once is overwhelming.

2. Just the trunk

The opposite is to look only at the trunk: what we're doing overall. That's worth remembering, but it doesn't tell you what to do on Monday. Yes, we all work on the one big thing.

3. The tree

In between is the shape of the tree. The trunk is what we do overall. The big branches are initiatives: areas of work that carry on. Coming off them are projects: work with an outcome and an end. The leaves are tasks.

 🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃     leaves: tasks
   │  │  │
   ├──┴──┘      projects
   │
   ├────────    initiatives
   │
   │            trunk: what we do overall

4. Zoom to the projects

For a week's plan, look at the projects. There are few enough to see on one page and compare. Ask which matter this week, pick a few, and agree who leads each.

5. Zoom into their leaves

Only now go down to the leaves, and only for the projects you picked. Look at their tasks, choose the next ones and hand them out. The other projects' leaves can wait.

6. The tree in our tools

• Trunk: Life Itself as a whole.
• Initiatives: initiative records, kept in the planning repository.
• Projects: project records, each in the repository where its work lives. The sweep gathers them into one table, Projects by initiative. The table is still incomplete; making it complete is project 2620.
• Leaves: tasks in Beads, or in Asana for Media House.

Extra: branches split again. A project can have sub-projects, and an initiative can contain other initiatives. Ignore that at first, and plan at whichever level gives you one page of choices.

More detail: How we plan and track work.