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?

5. 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

Start with the hardest/most important thing

• Don't bury critical work on Friday

Time-box, don't open-end

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

Build in buffer

• Things always take longer

• Unexpected issues arise

Match energy to task

• Deep work when fresh

• Admin when tired

End-of-day ritual

• Commit code

• Log progress

• Clear desk for tomorrow

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