Weekly Planning with HiveMind

HiveMind's Weekly Planning feature helps you create structured, actionable weekly plans for yourself and your team. Transform goals and context into day-by-day action plans with clear priorities and resource allocation.

Overview

Effective weekly planning sets the foundation for productive weeks. HiveMind helps you:

• Structure your week with clear daily priorities
• Align team activities around shared goals
• Identify conflicts and resource constraints
• Create accountability through documented plans
• Track progress against commitments

What HiveMind Produces

Weekly Plan Document

A comprehensive plan including:

• Week overview and objectives
• Day-by-day breakdown
• Priority tasks with owners
• Meeting schedule optimization
• Buffer time recommendations

Priority Matrix

Task prioritization using:

• Urgency vs. importance
• Dependencies and blockers
• Resource availability
• Deadline alignment

Team Coordination

For team planning:

• Individual assignments
• Collaboration touchpoints
• Handoff schedules
• Check-in cadence

Calendar Recommendations

Optimized scheduling:

• Focus time blocks
• Meeting consolidation
• Energy management
• Buffer periods

Getting Started

Access Weekly Planning

1. Navigate to HiveMind in your dashboard
2. Select Weekly Planning from the sidebar
3. Input your planning context

Input Your Context

Required Information:

• Goals for the week
• Known commitments and meetings
• Ongoing projects and their status
• Team capacity (if applicable)

Optional Enhancements:

• Previous week's carryover items
• Upcoming deadlines
• Calendar availability
• Energy/preference patterns

Configuration Options

planning:
  week_of: "January 20, 2026"
  planning_style: "detailed"  # brief, detailed, comprehensive

  goals:
    - "Launch Feature A"
    - "Complete Q1 planning"
    - "Interview 3 candidates"

  constraints:
    - "Tuesday: All-day offsite"
    - "Friday: Half day (personal)"
    - "Bob out Monday-Wednesday"

  preferences:
    focus_time: "mornings"
    meeting_days: ["Tuesday", "Thursday"]
    max_meetings_per_day: 4

  team:  # Optional for team planning
    - name: "Alice"
      capacity: "100%"
      skills: ["product", "writing"]
    - name: "Bob"
      capacity: "60%"  # Partial week
      skills: ["engineering", "architecture"]

Output Structure

Weekly Overview

# Weekly Plan: January 20-24, 2026

## Week Objectives
1. 🎯 **Primary**: Launch Feature A (Thursday)
2. 📋 **Secondary**: Complete Q1 roadmap draft
3. 👥 **Ongoing**: Candidate interviews (3)

## Week at a Glance

| Day | Focus | Key Activities |
|-----|-------|----------------|
| Mon | Deep Work | Feature A final testing, roadmap work |
| Tue | Collaboration | Team offsite (all day) |
| Wed | Execution | Bug fixes, interview prep |
| Thu | Launch | Feature A deployment, monitoring |
| Fri | Planning | Q1 finalization, week review |

## Critical Deadlines
- Thursday 2pm: Feature A go-live
- Friday noon: Q1 roadmap to leadership

Daily Breakdown

## Monday, January 20

### Morning Block (9am-12pm)
**Focus**: Feature A Testing
- [ ] Run full regression test suite (2h)
- [ ] Review and address critical bugs (1h)
- [ ] Update release checklist

### Afternoon Block (1pm-5pm)
**Focus**: Q1 Planning
- [ ] Draft roadmap sections 1-3 (2h)
- [ ] Gather input from engineering (30m)
- [ ] Review competitor analysis (1h)

### Meetings
- 11:00am - Standup (15m)
- 3:00pm - 1:1 with Bob (30m)

### End of Day
- [ ] Commit code changes
- [ ] Update project status
- [ ] Prep for Tuesday offsite

Priority Matrix

## Priority Matrix

### 🔴 Critical (Must Complete)
| Task | Owner | Deadline | Dependencies |
|------|-------|----------|--------------|
| Feature A deployment | Bob | Thu 2pm | QA signoff |
| Release notes | Alice | Thu 10am | Final build |
| Customer notification | Alice | Thu 3pm | Deployment |

### 🟡 Important (Should Complete)
| Task | Owner | Deadline | Dependencies |
|------|-------|----------|--------------|
| Q1 roadmap draft | Alice | Fri noon | Team input |
| Candidate interviews | Alice | Fri | Scheduled |
| Documentation update | Bob | Fri | Feature complete |

### 🟢 Valuable (If Time Permits)
| Task | Owner | Deadline | Dependencies |
|------|-------|----------|--------------|
| Tech debt review | Bob | - | - |
| Blog post draft | Alice | - | - |
| Onboarding improvements | Team | - | - |

Planning Styles

Individual Planning

For personal productivity:

• Focus on your priorities
• Energy-based scheduling
• Deep work protection
• Personal goal alignment

Team Planning

For team coordination:

• Workload distribution
• Skill-based assignment
• Coverage planning
• Collaboration scheduling

Project Planning

For project-focused weeks:

• Milestone alignment
• Dependency management
• Risk identification
• Stakeholder updates

Advanced Features

Carryover Management

Track items from previous weeks:

carryover:
  from_last_week:
    - task: "Update API documentation"
      status: "50% complete"
      priority: "should complete this week"

    - task: "Review security audit"
      status: "blocked on vendor"
      priority: "follow up Wednesday"

Capacity Planning

For team planning:

capacity:
  total_hours: 160  # 4 people × 40 hours
  allocated:
    feature_a: 60
    q1_planning: 30
    interviews: 10
    meetings: 25
    buffer: 20
  available: 15

  warnings:
    - "Bob at 60% capacity (out Mon-Wed)"
    - "Tuesday fully blocked (offsite)"

Risk Identification

Automatic risk flagging:

## Risks & Mitigations

### 🔴 High Risk
**Feature A delay**: If testing reveals critical bugs
- Mitigation: Bob on standby Wednesday for emergency fixes
- Fallback: Thursday morning deployment window

### 🟡 Medium Risk
**Q1 roadmap incomplete**: Offsite may not cover all topics
- Mitigation: Pre-work sent to team Monday
- Fallback: Follow-up session Friday AM

### 🟢 Low Risk
**Interview reschedule**: Candidates may have conflicts
- Mitigation: Backup slots identified
- Fallback: Push to following week

Meeting Optimization

Recommendations for better scheduling:

## Meeting Recommendations

### Consolidate
- Move Wednesday 1:1s to single afternoon block
- Combine status updates into standup

### Reschedule
- Thursday morning meeting conflicts with launch prep
- Suggest: Move to Friday or async update

### Decline/Delegate
- "Marketing sync" - Alice to attend, share notes
- "Optional: Tech talk" - Defer to next week

### Protect
- Thursday 9am-1pm: No meetings (launch prep)
- Daily 9-11am: Focus time (except Tuesday)

Integration Options

Calendar Sync

Export to calendar:

• Google Calendar events
• Outlook appointments
• iCal format
• Calendar blocks for focus time

Task Management

Send tasks to:

• Todoist: Personal task lists
• Asana: Team projects
• Linear: Engineering tasks
• Notion: Planning database

Team Communication

Share plans via:

• Slack: Weekly plan post to channel
• Email: Plan summary to stakeholders
• Notion: Team planning wiki

Templates

Pre-Built Templates

Template	Best For
Sprint Week	Agile development teams
Executive Week	Leadership planning
Creative Week	Content and design focus
Sales Week	Revenue-focused planning
Balanced Week	Mixed responsibilities

Custom Templates

Create your ideal week structure:

template:
  name: "My Ideal Week"

  daily_structure:
    morning: "Deep work (9am-12pm)"
    midday: "Meetings (12pm-3pm)"
    afternoon: "Admin and comms (3pm-5pm)"

  recurring_blocks:
    monday_morning: "Weekly planning"
    friday_afternoon: "Week review"

  constraints:
    no_meetings_before: "10am"
    max_meetings: 6
    protected_time:
      - "Wednesday morning"
      - "Friday after 2pm"

Best Practices

Planning Session Tips

1. Plan on Friday or Monday: Fresh perspective
2. Review last week first: Learn and carry over
3. Be realistic: Buffer for unexpected
4. Prioritize ruthlessly: Not everything fits
5. Share the plan: Accountability helps

Execution Tips

1. Start with priorities: Tackle important first
2. Protect focus time: Guard deep work blocks
3. Check in daily: Brief AM review
4. Adjust as needed: Plans are guides, not laws
5. Capture learnings: Improve future planning

Team Planning Tips

1. Involve the team: Get input on capacity
2. Clarify owners: One owner per task
3. Identify dependencies: Know blockers
4. Plan communication: When to sync
5. Celebrate wins: Acknowledge completion

Troubleshooting

Plan Too Ambitious

1. Use priority matrix to cut scope
2. Identify what can move to next week
3. Check for hidden dependencies
4. Add more buffer time
5. Delegate where possible

Team Conflicts

1. Review capacity allocation
2. Check for skill mismatches
3. Identify coverage gaps
4. Consider workload redistribution
5. Escalate resource constraints

Derailed Week

1. Re-prioritize remaining days
2. Push non-critical items
3. Communicate changes
4. Document learnings
5. Adjust future planning

---

Ready to plan your week? Access Weekly Planning in HiveMind.