Planning a week

How to plan a week as an engineering leader?
Here is the framework I've been using for years. 🧵👇

Start with one priority. There is only one, the most important subject to cover in the week. Timebox at least 4-8 hours for it in your calendar. At least one long block of focus (4hrs). Put it as an item to discuss during your 1:1s. Make sure it is as strategic as possible.

After you have a single priority, take two more things that require your attention. Timebox 2hrs for each in your calendar, ideally a single block of full focus. Make sure that you move up the needle in these subjects within the week, unblock the team, or add some value.

Then book up to three important things for you to keep an eye on. Check how things are doing - KPIs, metrics, or status updates from your team.
These things are important to be updated with, but not that important to act on them just yet. Build your awareness in case they become a priority in the following weeks.

That's it - you already timeboxed something between 15-20 hours for the week with strategically important things. The rest are distractors, tactical things, firefighting, learning time, or keeping the lights on.

If you don't have time to timebox one priority and two attention points within a single week, this is bad. If so, start by reviewing distractors and make it a priority to sort them out. Your timeboxed focus is a strategic thing for you as an engineering leader.