9-Box Planning

I’ve been thinking about time increments and planning.

We can think of many increments like 5, 15, 30, 60, or 90 just to name a few.

Then apply those to different time metrics including seconds, minutes, hours, days and months.

We could plan a month with time blocks around 30 minutes, 30 hours, and 30 days.

We could consider a quarter of 90 minutes, 90 hours, and 90 days.

9-BOX PLANNING METHOD

Selecting 3 projects we want to accomplish during the timeframe selected creates a 9-box.

Starting with the longest time frame, we could brainstorm what could be accomplished.

Then, select one and use the other two columns to break each project down.

Instead of selecting 3 projects, we could go with just one large project.

Break it down into 3 components and use the 9-box the same way.

Below is an example of the structure:

We can adjust the projects for dimensions of a single project.

The columns can change with different time metrics and increments depending on the projects.

Starting with 30 days on the left allows us to break the goals down as we move to the right.

In this example, the 30-hour goal might be one per week across the month.

Or, if we realized we couldn’t devote 30 hours/week, we could do 30 hours over 2 weeks.

The goal of the chart is to create a high-level, realistic plan.

What do you think of this planning method?

How might it help you break down something that you have been avoiding?

What combination of rows and columns would work best for your situation?