8 AM Monday

A strategy for making sense of meeting-heavy weeks while still getting work done.

Monday, 8:00AM

• Accept important meetings and decline others. Resolve any conflicts.
• Open Trello (or your project management system of choice). Make an inventory of tasks or deliverables needed this week.
• Block open time for tasks/deliverables, working out, learning, lunch, and personal appointments.

Friday, 4:30PM

• Run a mini-retro on the week: what’s one thing that went well this week? Did I complete what I needed to this week? Why/why not?
• Reset your workspace. Move resolved tasks and deliverables to an archive, put anything you didn’t complete in a parking lot for next week, and tidy your physical workspace.

Tips

• Create recurring meetings for 25 minutes at 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM to start and end your week.
• Chaos happens, and your week on Monday may look completely different than what actually happens come Friday. Be defensive with your time and leverage your manager to control your week.