The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

The thesis of this book is to plan your work and work your plan in 12 week rather than 12 month cycles.

The “period of performance” is often a 1 year stretch. If we collapse this period from 1 year into 12 weeks, we increase the number of cycles in which we can perform the same activity. The corporate world has annual reviews and quarterly statements.

We can’t get something from nothing. This is not a magical time machine. Rather than working on the physical, it is affecting the mental. The 12 week year is a mental reframe. This concept forces us to divide and conquer tasks with more efficiency and urgency. It makes us take a very serious look at what we can accomplish in 12 weeks, 1 week, and 1 day. It also helps us trim the fat and use our time most effectively.

Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”

I see the 12 week year as similar to the Scrum method of software development where tasks are broken down to smaller activities.

Scrum is an agile process most commonly used for product development, especially software development. Scrum is a project management framework that is applicable to any project with aggressive deadlines, complex requirements and a degree of uniqueness. In Scrum, projects move forward via a series of iterations called sprints. Each sprint is typically two to four weeks long.

From: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/overview

Spiral development model is a method where cycles of development are repeated, each iteration enhances the next version of the product.

The benefits to a 12 week year are:

If something is failing, let it go quicker. Fail fast and fail often.

Allows for more timely feedback.

A pivot can occur sooner allowing for a change of strategy.

More urgency can be applied to an activity, the panicked rush to complete a deadline.

Feeling the benefits of success, the success comes quicker and more often, and motivates us in the present.

Vision – must be clear with your vision. Otherwise you will not realize your goals. The clear vision defines your success criteria. The vision also acts as motivation. Dream big to accomplish big. Average visions produce average results. Analogy – the requirements specification in engineering. Your vision should push you outside your comfort zone. Vision is long term, well beyond the 12 week period.

Measuring and reviewing will call you out on your failings. It also allows one to see where improvements can be made. Share with a friend to make you feel more accountable.

The strategy of SMART goals is encouraged for the 12 week period:

Make goals Specific, Measured, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

Criteria for your goals:

1. Specific and measurable – State goals clearly and make them well defined, use metrics to measure progress.

2. State them positively – Use positive terms, not negative ones.

3. Realistic but challenging – Grow your goals to be as challenging as possible while still attainable in the 12 weeks.

4. Accountability – hold yourself accountable to teammates, and mastermind group members.

5. Time limited – Everything needs a deadline. All goals must fit within the 12 weeks or less.

Write down your 12 week goals and roadmap on how you plan to obtain them.

Break down the 12 week plan into 12 one week plans. It’s like climbing stairs.

Peer support is helpful, mastermind groups, mentors, have a weekly accountability meeting (WAM)

Have a weekly routine that scores your previous week based on measured metrics. Plan your next week. Participate in one WAM per week.

Metrics:

Lag indicators are end results. Did you succeed and by how much?

Lead indicators are early results and evidence of how you are doing as the task is ongoing (example- real time measurements or end of day results).

More frequent measurements leads to more accurate measurements and better