To-Doβs Day: Summer Planning Tips
A quick aside before we start Reader. I'm a long-time Apple fanboy, but I think they really missed the mark in promoting Apple Vision Pro yesterday. Dad serves toast while wearing these?
I would use Apple Vision Pro as a spatial computer, but not in the kitchen while my kids are around.
I would use it on a flight to watch a movie, but having a baby crying as background noise is lazy.
I can see where a family all has one, watching their own movie or game, much like iPads and iPhones now.
But everyone wearing the goggles feels like a step Iβm not ready for.
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Summer Planning Strategies
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to plan to do less than you are used to. As I talked about in the summer slows newsletter, this has been a career-long struggle for me. Here's how to tackle it.
Identify Pause Points
Pause points are times of the summer where you are planning to "pause," i.e. take a vacation, or enough people on your team are also pausing their work. My pause points are July 4th vacation and a mid-late August trip to Austin.
That means I have two primary work sprints during the summer. The month of June and from mid-July to mid-August. Knowing this, I can use the O.M.G. Framework to plan the two sprints.
OMG(D) Framework
- O = Outcome achieved
- M = Milestone reached
- G = Goal(s) for the week
- D = Daily actions
In this framework, I break the big goal into smaller chunks and actions that can be done in a day. If I'm consistent with my daily actions each week, then I'll complete the goals, reach the milestone, and achieve a successful outcome.
Combining Sprints
Granted, four weeks isn't a super long time. You could bypass the milestone level and only focus on the weekly goals that help you reach the expected outcome.
Or, you could treat each sprint like a milestone to a larger summer-long project. The system is flexible for single sprints or stacking to a larger objective.
Final Thoughts
Remember, you will be happier, less stressed, and potentially more productive if you lower expectations this summer (assuming you're a high expectation person who likes success).
Identify two main projects to work on this summer, and don't forget this is in addition to your regularly-scheduled meetings, emails, and other downhill work.
If you can't complete each project within four weeks, consider chunking down or expanding one project to the entire summer, with milestones around pause points.
Matt
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