Applies Mindsets:

• Fractalise
• Accord, not Permission

Weekly priorities workshop

A great way to get rid of almost all group meetings is the squad priorities workshop.

The meeting is all about prioritising the work for the upcoming week, and it only takes around 20 minutes. It has a specific structure, and happens at the same time each week.

In a priorities meeting, there’s only one thing to do: work out the team’s priorities for the coming week.

No updates or “while I’ve got you” stuff, since already happened async with check-ins or kanban boards.

The team works from a single project board (Kanban or Agile), where each card is an outcome (not a task).

1. Everyone says how much time they have in the coming week. (1 min)
2. The Decider (usually the proposer of the project, or someone with a product owner responsibility) reorders the outcome cards. (1 min)
3. Card by card, whoever is working on that outcome estimates how hard it will be, using t-shirt sizes: S, M, L, XL. (If there is disagreement, those people quickly share their reasons to see if someone missed something, and come to an agreement.) (15 mins)
4. The Decider then reorders the cards based on the estimates, with the highest priority at the top. (1 min)
5. People confirm their assignment to each card. (2 mins)

The meeting is over. Everyone hangs up to avoid the “wait until we speak” trap.

Now, the team has a shared list of priorities, and each person works on their highest-priority cards first.