What?
I recently stumbled upon the Monthly Method site (and podcast!) and really liked how Polina Bee innovatively applies tried-and-tested techniques from the Scrum framework to personal goal setting and productivity.
Note that there is a paid coaching service available – I don’t get any benefit from recommending the service, although as someone with a background in Scrum, I was surprised at how applicable Scrum principles are for personal productivity.
So What?
In a nutshell, the Monthly Method assists its users to define and achieve their goals, by providing clarity and focus, and a sustainable process. A brief outline of the method is below.
The first step is to set (only) three goals in each of the following three areas that you will focus on in the next three weeks:
- Career and Growth
- Health and Key Relationships
- Quality of Life.
Besides the useful alliteration of three-three-three, this number of goals is manageable and sustainable and provides progress and momentum, without burnout and/or discouragement.
These goals must each have a clear ‘definition of done’ (DOD) – basically a statement which allows a complete outsider to confirm that the goal was achieved or not. An example from the freely-available guide (PDF) is:
Goal: Sign up for a copywriting class
DOD: The first class is booked in my calendar.
In Scrum parlance, this is analagous to the Sprint Planning event, with a clear backlog of prioritised items.
On a daily basis, the Daily Standup is replaced with a more personal ’10X Coffee Practice’, to increase the energy and motivation needed to achieve the selected goals. It involves prioritizing activties that wil bring you closer to achieving the goals, and visualizing the feelings and thoughts when achieving these goals.
Finally, after the three week ‘sprint’ – the final (fourth) week of the month is used to celebrate, re-evaluate progress and identify new goals for the next three week sprint. This corresponds to the Sprint Review.
The very powerful technique of identifying activities to Stop/Start/Continue (a staple from Sprint Retrospective literature) is recommended to ensure that we make time to improve the process and the journey.
Now What?
As someone familiar with the Scrum framework, the ‘Monthly Method’ really resonated with me, and I’ve just employed the three goals in three areas for three weeks in my own life. I’ve also incorporated the Retro method in my Monthly Review process.
Where I may lose a few points is that I won’t be performing the 10X Coffee Practice, as I feel that my practices to prioritize daily is already well established. However, I absolutely understand the benefit it provides in focussing attention.
All said – if you have big goals and are struggling with implementation, I think it’s worthwhile to try this method for a month or two and then embed this in your daily life.