quarterly-planning

name: quarterly-planningdescription: >  Run the full quarterly planning cycle -- pre-quarter homework, kickoff,  weekly Wodtke rhythm, mid-quarter check-in, and close retro -- using Radical  Focus, Cagan strategy, and a fixed planning cadence around your OKRs.license: MIT + Commons Clausemetadata:   version: 1.0.1  author: borghei  category: project-management  domain: pm-execution  updated: 2026-06-15  tech-stack: quarterly-planning, okrs, product-strategy, radical-focus  tags:     - quarterly-planning    - okrs    - radical-focus    - planning-cycle

Quarterly Planning Expert

Overview

Quarterly planning is the operating cadence that turns annual strategy into quarterly outcomes. Done well, it produces aligned OKRs, a roadmap that delivers them, a capacity plan that respects reality, and a tracking ritual that catches drift before it compounds. Done poorly, it produces OKR theater -- a slide deck of objectives that nobody references after week two.

This skill is the above-OKR-writing companion to execution/brainstorm-okrs/. Where brainstorm-okrs/ covers how to write good OKRs, this skill covers the full quarterly cycle around them: pre-quarter homework, kickoff agenda, mid-quarter check-in, close-of-quarter retro, and the weekly/biweekly tracking cadence. The framework synthesizes four sources: Wodtke's Radical Focus (Monday-commit / Friday-celebrate rhythm, one OKR per quarter), a product strategy cycle (explicit upstream strategy choices), Cagan's quarterly product strategy, and the RAD ritual (Reflect-Align-Decide) used inside each meeting.

Core Capabilities

• Pre-quarter homework -- strategy review, outcome candidate list, capacity assessment, and the 1-page kickoff brief
• Kickoff facilitation -- the 2-3hr RAD agenda that commits OKRs, roadmap, and capacity
• Weekly Wodtke rhythm -- Monday Commit, Friday Celebrate, biweekly KR confidence review
• Mid-quarter check-in -- carry / kill / pivot / escalate decisions at week 6
• Close retro -- 0.0-1.0 OKR scoring, learning extraction, and next-cycle seeding

Clarify First

Before running a phase, settle the inputs below. When one is missing or vague and would change the result, ask about it; when it wouldn't, use a sensible default and say which one you used.

• Which phase: pre-quarter/kickoff vs mid-quarter check-in vs close retro (selects the agenda and artifacts produced).
• Position in the 13-week cycle: what week you're in (the carry/kill/pivot check belongs at ~week 6, the retro at week 13).
• Existing OKRs & strategy: the committed Objective and the annual strategy it serves (the kickoff commits OKRs; every Objective must trace to a vision pillar).
• Real team capacity: honest capacity after PTO/on-call (a stretch slate dressed as commitments is the #1 cadence failure).

Ask about the two or three inputs that matter most for this request, not the whole list. If the user wants a result straight away, produce it and state your assumptions at the top.

The Quarterly Cycle

Week -3   -1     0       1-5    6      7-12    13
  | Pre-quarter | Kickoff |  Mid-quarter  | Close
  |  homework   | (start) |   check-in    | retro
  +-Strategy/Cagan--+-- Wodtke weekly Mon/Fri rhythm --+

• Pre-quarter (weeks -3 to -1): run the homework and kickoff to commit OKRs and roadmap.
• Mid-quarter (~week 6): run the check-in to course-correct.
• Close (week 13): run the retro to extract learning before the next cycle.

When to Use

• Pre-quarter (2-3 weeks before start). Run the homework and kickoff to commit OKRs and roadmap.
• Mid-quarter (~week 6 of 13). Run the mid-quarter check-in to course-correct.
• Close-of-quarter (last week). Run the close retro to extract learning before next planning cycle.
• New PM joining mid-quarter. Understand where the team is in the cycle and what is expected when.
• Failing OKR cadence. Team has OKRs but no one references them by week 4 -- reset the ritual.

Anti-Patterns

Key results that are activities

Mistake: "KR: launch the new pricing page by June 1." The KR is a deliverable. Why it happens: Deliverables are easy to plan and score, and shipping feels like success. Instead: Rewrite each KR as a measurable change, for example "free-to-paid conversion >= 4.5% by June 30", and treat the deliverable as the bet behind it. A KR built on ship, launch, build or complete with no downstream metric needs a rewrite.

Dependencies found mid-quarter

Mistake: In week 6, Team A discovers it needs an API that Team B never put in its slate. Why it happens: Each team plans its own slate, and the cross-team check feels like extra overhead. Instead: Before kickoff, have every team list its initiatives and dependencies. Run a reconciliation session in week 0, and cut scope where the other team can't commit. No documented week-0 session means mid-quarter surprises.

A mid-quarter check-in with no authority to rebaseline

Mistake: The week-6 check-in finds KR2 off-track, and the answer is "push harder". Why it happens: Descoping feels like admitting failure, so nobody is given the authority. Instead: Bring carry, kill, pivot and escalate options to the check-in, such as descope the KR, borrow capacity, or drop another KR. Record the decision and who signed off. A check-in with no rebaseline decisions was a status meeting.

Eight more, each with a bad and a good example: references/red-flags.md.

References

Load the reference that matches the task -- keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

• references/cycle-playbook.md -- the full operational playbook: pre-quarter homework + kickoff brief template, kickoff / mid-quarter / close agendas, the weekly Wodtke rhythm scripts, anti-patterns, artifacts-produced map, troubleshooting, and success criteria. Read this when running any phase of the cycle.
• references/quarterly-planning-guide.md -- the framework theory (Wodtke Radical Focus, Cagan product strategy, strategy cycle, RAD ritual) with a worked Reconcile Q3 example. Read this when you need the reasoning behind the rituals.
• references/red-flags.md -- 11 quarterly-planning anti-patterns (OKR theater, capacity in story points, stretch goals as committed slate) with symptoms and fixes. Read this when reviewing a quarter's plan or diagnosing a failing cadence.

Templates live in assets/: kickoff_agenda_template.md, mid_quarter_check_in_template.md, close_retro_template.md, quarterly_review_deck_outline.md.

Scope & Limitations

In scope: pre-quarter homework (strategy, outcomes, capacity); kickoff agenda; weekly Wodtke rhythm; biweekly KR confidence review; mid-quarter check-in; close retro; carry/kill/pivot framework; quarterly review deck outline.

Out of scope: writing individual OKRs (execution/brainstorm-okrs/); roadmap construction (execution/outcome-roadmap/); sprint-level planning (scrum-master/); multi-quarter / annual strategy (c-level-advisor/); performance management (career/); portfolio management (program-manager/).

Caveats: the cycle is the system -- skipping one ritual (especially the close retro) degrades the next quarter; OKRs are a tool for focus, not control (Wodtke argues one Objective per team per quarter); the skill assumes a 13-week quarter; it works best where the company has shared OKR practice.

Integration Points