How we plan smart and execute smoothly — 2024 Roadmap
Well, it’s a new year, and that means a new catalogue of tasks to accomplish. We have been following this planning process for a couple of years, and we want to share our technique with others so they can benefit from our plan.
First, we start by clearing the slate.
Yes, you read that correctly. We don’t want to be overwhelmed right away by a long list of tasks. We understand that there is a lot to do, but we don’t yet know which tasks are the most important. Any carryover tasks or upcoming commitments will be incorporated into the plan below, but for now, we have a blank whiteboard. (And yes, we do have a whiteboard.)
Step 1 — PostIt Note Everything You Can Think Of
We typically use different colours of Post-It notes to represent different categories. This year, we had four different color categories. Everything that should be completed by 2024 should be written on a Post-It note. And don’t feel restricted, let your mind wander a bit. It’s good for the soul, and it might even spark a whole different path or consideration for the roadmap that you haven’t seen yet.
This is where all the carryover and obligations will resurface, as well as any new considerations you have.
Step 2 — Breaking Down by Importance
You will then take all the PostIts and group them by:
🗒️ Unreachable / Pointless-> Items that are either unreachable or pointless. Pointless means items that are one and done, these are tasks that aren’t stepping stone tasks.
Now, at this stage, it may involve some bias and the need to advocate for specific items to be included in certain groups. However, the goal is to roughly categorize each PostIt note into one of these groups. Please note that none of these items have been ruled out yet. We are simply ensuring that we have all the necessary items and determining the relative importance of the remaining items on the map.
Step 3 — Reflect
Go through each PostIt note and read the contents of each note within the category it was placed.
“… is required because …”
“… is in following year because …”
And make sure every note is in the correct place. Don’t worry if your entire board looks significantly different now. This means you are actually delving deeper into your planning process rather than impulsively planning.
⚠️ Remember to mark each PostIt with the category it landed in (we will be reusing this category later on) ⚠️
Step 4 — Group by Lift
Now that we have assigned the appropriate weights to each of them, we need to consider their lift requirements. In the past, we have experienced challenges when attempting to tackle large projects all at once. By grouping them based on their lift, we can get a high-level overview of the amount of work each note might require.
Lifts we use are:
New + Hard -> Large projects with lots of pieces and starting from scratch
New -> Projects that are starting rom scratch
Building On -> Projects we are building on existing infrastructure
Easy + Building On -> We know what to do and where to do it projects.
Unknown -> We don’t have a clue what we are walking in for these projects. Could be easy or could be the hardest thing we have ever tackled.
Step 5 — Balancing the Roadmap
To avoid repeating history, we ensure that there is something in each category. If the “lift” category appears to be too full, we remove items from that specific category. It is important to consider the difference in workload between “New + Hard” and “Easy + Building On” tasks.
Step 6 — Leaderboards for each Lift
Now that we have all the items in each lift category, we want to now group them inside leaderboards of
“Required” — Needs to get done
“Maybe” — Maybe gets done, maybe not
“Extra” — A dash of extra just incase we get everything else done
Step 7 — Sort by Quarters (optional)
We organize our year into quarters, which has been successful for us and is likely a key factor of where we are today. We have broken down weights and will be allocating them to each quarter accordingly. Our quarters follow a predetermined structure, but simply, it is important to consider the weights assigned in Step 5 and 6 in order to avoid an excessive focus on a single lift category within a quarter.
This approach ensures a balanced commitment to each lift category, allowing for both small and significant achievements in every quarter.
Compare — Start / End
Now that you have a finished list, take some time to reflect on it once again. I understand that it may seem like a lot, but this reflection will help you address any doubts or concerns about overcommitting. Remember, you don’t have to start from scratch if you don’t want to. You can always go back a step or several steps if it feels necessary. The main goal is to ensure that you feel comfortable with what you are committing to. At the very least, compare your initial list with your finished list. It can be quite satisfying to see a well thought out plan in front of you.
We have achieved significant success in managing timelines and commitments by following this structure. Although some adjustments have been made to the process, the concept of filtering and then reevaluating has always been present. While unexpected tasks still arise occasionally, we trip way less often since stepping back and analyzing the commitments before executing the plan.
Hope this helps you as much as it helped us.
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