The Big Board Boss is the person in charge of the Weekly Planning Process . This role can be filled by a PM, Strategist or other team member, or a dedicated person.

Mission 🙏

To guide our Production process, ensuring that we deliver our work on time and on budget, while making sure our team has the right amount of work.

Definition of Success 📈

• All salaried or retainer team members are fully utilized each week, even if it requires us scheduling non-billable work.
• At least 90% of Big Board hours are completed by Friday EOD each week.
• 100% of Big Board hours are completed or re-scoped by Monday EOD each week.

Key Responsibilities 💪

• Every day review the “This Week” and “Last Week” lists. Make sure that tasks are in the right places, have appropriate statuses, are actionable and accurate, etc.
• Check in daily on the Big Board, validating that things are going smoothly on each task, and helping to lift blockers if any exist.
• Whenever something is not going correctly (ex. tasks with no assignee, tasks not being worked on late in the week, staff behind on deadlines, etc.), DM the appropriate staff to push for a resolution.
• At the end of each week, run the Weekly Planning Meeting .
• At the start of each week…
  • [ ] Ensure that any contributors who could reasonably be assigned 10 or more hours next week are invited to next Friday’s Weekly Planning Meeting.
  • [ ] Remove the "Last Week" tasks from the Big Board.
  • [ ] Move the "This Week" tasks to "Last Week". Go through each remaining task in that list and check to see if it looks like it is on track to be completed by the first day of the week. If not, ping the relevant PM/assignee.
  • [ ] Move the "Next Week" tasks that are Ready or Clarified into "This Week".
  • [ ] Ensure that “Next Week” and “This Week” headers are updated with the correct dates.
  • [ ] For all the "Next Week" tasks that are not ready or clarified, check to see if any of them seem really urgent. If so, ping the relevant PM to let them know the task will not get done unless it gets clarified shortly.
  • [ ] Update the Dashboard burnup chart to filter by the new week’s dates
  • [ ] Review the Board to identify if all active team members have a list that works for their schedule. If someone is on salary or has a specific hours commitment from Cantilever, ensure they have enough work to fill that requirement.
  • [ ] Post a weekly update in Asana and in Slack somewhere that everyone will see. This message should reiterate any process intentions we are working on. Things like: We have been working on getting tasks clarified earlier, or We are pushing to have more tasks delegated to contributors. It should include:
    • Recap of last week. Use get harvest data and look for trends that would be meaningful to staff. Remember to celebrate successes as much or more than you emphasize areas for growth.
    • Preview of next week. What are we hoping to achieve this week? Who has the heaviest lifts? What clients are we focused on this week? What strategies can staff use to be more effective at implementing our process initiatives?

Big Board Boss Time Tracking

The Big Board Boss is responsible for ensuring that the Big Board is complete and current, and that the whole team are sticking to our agreed upon processes.