Holacracy in Practice: Weekly Review with Asana + GlassFrog
One of the most beneficial habits I have ever adopted is the ‘Weekly Review’. I first read about it several years ago, when I discovered David Allen’s methodology; GTD (Getting Things Done). The Weekly Review is a fantastic method that not only adheres with your duty of processing, but it assists you with transparency and prioritisation. It provides you with a powerful framework that enables you to proactively fulfil your commitments within your team.
Duty of Processing
This is what other members of your circle explicitly expect from you:
· Processing your accountabilities and projects;
· Processing requests for project and next actions;
· Processing requests to impact your domains.
Weekly Review Process
Here are the steps to follow:
1. Process your inbox. Go through all your emails and remember the goal: get everything out of your mind and put it in a reliable system where you can easily share with other colleagues.
2. Go to GlassFrog and open each and every one of your roles. Take a few minutes to read and reflect on the purpose of your roles. Are you doing your best to express the purpose of your roles? What can you do to get closer to it? It’s time to create projects and next actions to achieve your mission. My humble piece of advice: think big! And don’t forget to do the same with your accountabilities.
3. Go to Asana and process the projects you are working on. Do this proactively; what do you need to move this project forward? Create next tasks; follow-up existing tasks, open conversations with your colleagues… This is not a moment to do, this is a moment to plan and reflect what you can do for the project.
4. Review all your tasks in Asana and set priorities. I find its feature “My Tasks” very helpful for this. Go through the list and set priorities; decide which tasks should have due dates, which tasks are ready to be moved from Later to Upcoming, etc.
5. Review your “Waiting for”. In Asana, I have a view of all tasks I have created and assigned to others. This allows me to easily keep track of those tasks I have delegated. I call it the “Waiting for” view, for obvious reasons. It’ll help you stay on top of those tasks that you assigned and therefore don’t see anymore within your own tasks
6. Finally, review your calendar, and ask yourself these two questions: Can I commit to all events I have scheduled for next week? Can I cancel any meetings? Asking these questions will not only potentially free up some of your time but it will also help prepare you mentally for the week ahead.
In Practice
Don’t give up after two or three weeks. It will take you some time in the beginning, possibly 45 mins or even an hour but as soon as the process starts flowing naturally, it will take less and less each time.
Notes
This is not the original Weekly Review process by David Allen. I adapted it to Holacracy. This is the third version, which might change again in the future. Feel free to explore, change or adapt the process until it meets your requirements.
