Ditch Your To-Do List and Use These Docs To Make More Impact
Ditch Your To-Do List and Use These Docs To Make More Impact
After tackling startup challenges from Stripe Press to Figma Education, Brie Wolfson shares her personal collection of templates — the docs that she's used to stay focused on the work that matters and true to her own career goals.
EVERYDAY DOCS
1. Ongoing Stack Rank (OSR)
An OSR is effectively a list of things I’m working on or could be working on over a given time period. An OSR is great for representing a global view of personal priorities and the ongoing status of each, and it’s the most tactically useful day-to-day.
There are three critical features of a good OSR:
- Show outputs only. In this context, outputs are defined as shippable units work. Phrasing them as such will also help remind you that you can only check it off once it’s completed. For example, “hosted dinner for startups” can show up on your list, while “booked restaurant for startup dinner” shouldn’t.
- Include workstream status: I’ll use a full spectrum of options from scoping, to in-progress, to ready to go, to shipped, to deprioritized for now (with dates).
- Order by priority: This way, you can use the OSR as your guiding light for what you should be working on at any given moment in time.
Here’s a template for what yours could look like
2. “It’s Only The Weekend When” Post-It
Everyone’s got their own way to manage their to-do list, but one thing that has meaningfully changed the way I work and helped me actually prioritize the big stuff is to write down 3 (and no more than 3!) things I would be very disappointed to go into the weekend without completing.
Here’s a picture of a few of mine from the last year:
3. “What I’m Proud Of” Scrapbook
This is a collection of things I’m proud of. It’s a running list of formats (screenshots, emails, pings, feedback, etc.) that will help me track what gives me energy and satisfaction.
My scrapbook of things I’m proud of tests the stories I tell myself about what I care about by matching them to reality.
4. Snag Log
A snag log has similar properties of the Scrapbook of Things I’m Proud Of, but it covers the things that bogged me down instead of the things that lifted me up. It’s data that can lead to more productive work by allowing me to express my annoyance, frustration, or disappointment.
5. “Today, I Learned”
This document is a list of things I learned, usually in bullet form. It's useful in my day-to-day work because it helps me remember things without having to ask the same question twice.
MONTHLY DOCS
6. Impact Tracking (in your OSR)
Using your OSR as your guide, take a look at all the things you shipped and jot down some notes about their impact.
7. Me-Sat
Take your own pulse and evaluate your satisfaction, or “Me-sat.” Examples include a simple structure for a check-in or various exercises for self-reflection.
QUARTERLY DOCS
8. Personal Press Release
Imagine you are writing a press release about all the things you shipped and the impact they are having.
ANNUAL DOCS
9. Job Description
Every six months, rewrite your own job description to reflect the changing responsibilities of your role.
10. Working with Me
This document expresses and scales your preferred working style and preferences.
Here’s a link to mine! (Screenshot omitted)
PUTTING IT ALL INTO PRACTICE
If you’d like to try incorporating these into your workflow, here’s a calendar you can subscribe to that’ll keep them top-of mind.
It takes a bit of a mental shift and some discipline to work this way, but it’s worth it.