Daily planning and stand-ups

How we communicate

We currently use Zulip for synchronous and asynchronous communication. We have a private stream for organizers with two main topics we use daily: Stand-ups and Watercooler.

Our stand-up topic is where we post our stand-up messages every day (and nothing else). Sage and I have different post styles, but we came up with an emoji key that helps us understand at a glance levels of importance, urgency, statuses of tasks, and much more.

Our emoji key

🚧 - urgent WIP
🛠️ - less urgent WIP
✅ - done
ℹ️ - info, or another person completed this task
🔔 - pinged person who needs to do task
:date: - meeting
:mantelpiece_clock:️ - long term task
⏳ - urgent task that's coming up fast
:fire: - urgent and on fire
🏝️ - vacation
:cyclone: - mental health PTO
🤒 - sick day
:derelict_house:️ - old, neglected task
🏃 - time off (typically used for running errands)

Our Watercooler topic is where we talk about current and past tasks (synchronously and asynchronously) and how we’re doing. We frequently use it to communicate our time off.

My tools

I used to use jrnl to plan my day, but I decided to give Anytype (a really Notion-esque software) a chance after I received an invitation to their alpha program.

My system

I have a set of Daily Plan objects on Anytype where I keep all my stand-up files. Their names follow the YYYY-MM-DD format. I usually create the file for the following work day in my previous work day. I typically keep two things at the top of the file: a list of what I call Yesterday’s debt – all my pending tasks from the previous work day – and a list of noteworthy things to consolidate as documentation. They’re not shared in my daily stand-ups, but I often mention them in meetings.

I also started to maintain a section of blockers – things that are blocked on other people’s actions. I keep it at the top of the text I send every day in daily stand-ups.

With a list of tasks I need to complete at hand, I divide them in morning and afternoon tasks. My mornings are usually dedicated to tasks I need to complete before Sage starts their work day. My afternoon tasks, on the other hand, are tasks we can complete together in a working session or would benefit from having two people working on them at the same time.

/* Not shared in stand-ups */

[🔮 Yesterday's debt]

- Email X
- Discuss Y with Sage during our next 1:1
- Ping Z

[📝 Noteworthy]

- Communities A, B, C and D have a pattern of...
- Person E and F are...
- Intern G and H requested...

/* Shared in stand-ups */

[🛑 Blockers]
- 🔥 [Community] Intern R's extension
- 🚧 [Assignee] Contractor L's contract renewal

[🌅 Morning]
- 🔥 Review...
- 🚧 Ping...
- 🛠️ Revamp...
- ✅ Reply to...

[🌇 Afternoon]
- 📆 1:1 with Sage
- 📆 Onboard...