I can be incredibly right-brained. I really like routines and processes to ensure that I get things done efficiently and consistently. To that end, I have a bunch of routines. My favourite one, is the one I do on Friday afternoon. This is a weekly routine for better product management and more peace in the chaos! This routine consists of tasks that fall into three categories, that are great for product management, but could adapt to any career, I think. They are administrative, planning and career development.
The tasks
Administrative
- Prioritize bug tickets Make sure you have your bug tickets in your backlog, at the right spot for their priority. I don’t always look at our overall rate of clearing bugs, so this reminds me to do it
- Write story tickets Throughout the week, I add non-urgent tickets to a separate list so that I can batch write them at the end of the week. This task also gives me a minutes to think about if they’re really still needed
- Read starred items in Slack During the week if I see something in Slack that I can deal with later, I’ll star it (or bookmark it, as it’s called now) and deal with it on Friday in one sitting
- Clean-up physical and digital desktops This keeps things from piling up, digitally and physically and gives you space to think on Monday
- Empty computer trash
- Check Todoist inbox Move tasks to appropriate project lists and add due dates (if needed)
- Get to email inbox zero Because if not now, when?
Planning
- Check on discovery plan I try to keep a rough rolling plan four weeks in advance with things I need to research etc., this task ensures that I’m on track or revising the plan if needed
- Review next week’s calendar
- Check that calendar events have virtual meeting links (thank you COVID-19 remote work) and the right people invited
- Reschedule meetings that need to be rescheduled
- Make sure I have time blocked off for deep work i.e. several hours in a row as opposed to fitting things around meetings
- Plan personal stuff Review what’s happening in my family life next week and make sure I have stuff things on my grocery list (e.g. if I need to bring a dish over to a friend’s house adding the items I need to our grocery list), if we need a babysitter, texting our family to see if someone is free … you get the idea on these pre-COVID-19 examples
Career development
- Review and read articles in Instapaper From Monday to Friday, f I come across an article that I want to read, I’ll add it to Instapaper so that I can read it on Friday
- Check on my goals At Jobber, where I work, we set quarterly career goals. On Friday’s I make sure I’m on track with them and schedule time into my calendar to complete these things. I find checking in on them weekly, helps prevent me having to crunch them all into the — already busy — last two weeks of a quarter
- Writing One of my current long-term goals is to write an article per month, much like the one you are currently reading. I schedule separate time to do a little bit of writing every week. Often that hour ends up being committed to something else, but if I have it scheduled every week, I usually get to the end of the month with at least one article written
Making it happen
I have my list of tasks to do every Friday, but actually doing them all is a whole other thing. The weekly list could technically happen any day of the week but I find planning for it on Friday is easiest because most people don’t plan many meetings that day. I also like doing this routine on Fridays because it clears the decks for the next week and means that I’m much more likely to be able to shut off my work brain for the weekend.
How to actually make this happen? It’s pretty easy actually: Put it in your calendar! I love blocking off my calendar to get tasks done (which I will undoubtedly write about at a later time). The Friday list is no different. I put it in my calendar as a recurring weekly two-hour block at the end of the day called “Review and plan.” This helps ensure that I don’t get pulled into any last minute meetings during that time. This chunk of time is important for keeping stress down and ensuring consistency in my work over time. To me, it’s as important as any meeting and therefore deserves a guarded block of time on my calendar.
How to get started with a Friday routine
Is this all a bit insane? Yes, probably. Doing this most weeks though, helps me feel calm and like everything is in a decent state at the end of the week. This makes me stick with it. Do I complete everything, every week? Not every week. The beauty of doing this weekly, and making sure that time is scheduled, means that, because I do it regularly enough, if I miss one week, it’s not the end of the world to catch-up the next week. Everyone’s weekly list should look different than mine. The idea is that this should fit your needs and your job. I also adapt this list over time — removing and adding things as needed.
If this is something you want to start doing, I suggest just adding whatever two or three things that you would like to get in a regular rhythm with to your preffered to do list. Do you need to chip away at a huge goal? Water your plants weekly? Finally get down to inbox zero? Put these things on a list and then block off a recurring hour in your calendar on Friday, and make it non-negotiable. As you go through your life, you’ll start to notice other things that you’ll want to add to your weekly list. Add them one-by-one and keep at it. If you miss a week, try not to worry about it, just pick it up again next week. Over time, this practice will start to make things feel less chaotic. It’ll give you peace because you’ll know that, not only are you not going to interrupt what you’re doing with that email reply or great sounding article right now, but you have time specifically set aside for dealing with those kinds of things. Over time, less things will fall through the cracks.
I’m a total productivity hacks junkie, so if you want to talk more about this, please add a comment and I’ll write you back!
Kate Moore Hermes 