Agent Skills: Weekly Planning

Weekly Planning

Create a focused weekly plan based on tasks, priorities, and your work patterns.

When to Use

• After /weekly_review
• Start of a new week
• When feeling overwhelmed by options
• After a meeting that added new tasks

Prerequisites

• ~/.researchAssistant/researcher_telos.md for work preferences
• .research/project_telos.md for current priorities
• tasks.md for pending tasks
• Recent weekly review (recommended)

Execution Steps

1. Gather Context

Read these files:

• ~/.researchAssistant/researcher_telos.md - Productive hours, preferences
• .research/project_telos.md - Current phase, goals, blockers
• .research/phase_checklist.md - What's needed for current phase
• tasks.md - Pending tasks
• .research/logs/weekly/ - Most recent weekly review
• GitHub Issues (if integrated) - Open issues

2. Assess Available Capacity

Ask or infer:

Let's plan your week. First, some logistics:

1. Any days off or unusual schedule this week?
2. Any deadlines I should know about?
3. Any meetings already scheduled that will take significant time?
4. On a scale of 1-5, how much deep work time do you expect to have?

3. Prioritize Tasks

Categorize all pending work:

## Work Inventory

### Must Do This Week (Critical)
<!-- Blockers, deadlines, dependencies -->
- [ ] [Task] - Due: [date] | Blocks: [what]
- [ ] [Task] - Due: [date]

### Should Do (High Priority)
<!-- Important for progress but not urgent -->
- [ ] [Task] - Supports: [aim/goal]
- [ ] [Task] - Supports: [aim/goal]

### Could Do (Normal Priority)
<!-- Good to do if time allows -->
- [ ] [Task]
- [ ] [Task]

### Backlog (Not This Week)
<!-- Explicitly deprioritized -->
- [ ] [Task] - Why not: [reason]

4. Create Daily Plan

Based on user's productivity patterns:

# Weekly Plan: [Week of DATE]

## Focus for the Week
**Primary goal**: [One clear goal for the week]
**Theme**: [e.g., "Pipeline completion", "Writing push", "Analysis sprint"]

---

## Monday
*Energy: [Based on researcher_telos.md]*

### Morning (High focus)
- [ ] [Deep work task - most important]

### Afternoon
- [ ] [Medium focus task]
- [ ] [Smaller task]

### End of Day
- [ ] Quick commit and log progress

---

## Tuesday
*Energy: [Pattern]*

### Morning
- [ ] [Task]

### Afternoon
- [ ] [Task]

---

## Wednesday
*Energy: [Pattern]*

### Morning
- [ ] [Task]

### Afternoon
- [ ] [Task]

---

## Thursday
*Energy: [Pattern]*

### Morning
- [ ] [Task]

### Afternoon
- [ ] [Task]

---

## Friday
*Energy: [Typically lower - plan accordingly]*

### Morning
- [ ] [Wrap-up or lighter task]

### Afternoon
- [ ] Weekly review prep
- [ ] Documentation catch-up
- [ ] Plan ahead for next week

---

## Buffer Time
*Unscheduled time for unexpected needs*
- 2-4 hours reserved for surprises

## This Week's Boundaries
- [ ] Will NOT work on: [Explicitly out of scope]
- [ ] Limiting: [What to time-box]

5. Account for User Patterns

From researcher_telos.md:

| If User Is... | Then... | |---------------|---------| | Morning person | Schedule deep work before noon | | Afternoon person | Protect afternoon focus time | | Procrastinates writing | Schedule writing first, not last | | Forgets to commit | Add commit reminders | | Scope creep tendency | Set explicit boundaries | | Documentation avoider | Pair docs with coding tasks |

6. Present Plan

Here's your weekly plan:

📌 **Weekly Focus**: [Primary goal]

**Critical (Must complete)**:
1. [Task] - Monday morning
2. [Task] - By Wednesday
3. [Task] - Before Friday

**High Priority**:
4. [Task]
5. [Task]

**If Time Allows**:
6. [Task]
7. [Task]

**Explicitly NOT this week**:
- [Deprioritized item]

Does this look right? Any adjustments needed?

A) Accept this plan
B) Move something up in priority
C) Remove something (too ambitious)
D) Add something I missed

7. Save Plan

Save to .research/logs/weekly/YYYY-MM-DD-plan.md

Planning Principles

1. Start with the hardest/most important thing

   • Don't bury critical work on Friday

2. Time-box, don't open-end

   • "Work on analysis" → "2 hours on analysis: complete X"

3. Build in buffer

   • Things always take longer
   • Unexpected issues arise

4. Match energy to task

   • Deep work when fresh
   • Admin when tired

5. End-of-day ritual

   • Commit code
   • Log progress
   • Clear desk for tomorrow

6. Protect focus time

   • Identify and block best hours

Related Skills

• weekly-review - Review last week first
• next - Get immediate next action
• monthly-review - Bigger picture priority setting

Notes

• Plans are guides, not contracts
• Adjust as the week unfolds
• Celebrate completing the critical items
• It's okay to not finish everything