Run it on Sunday evening or Monday morning, before the work week starts. The planning window selected during setup determines which day it runs.
Work OS · Work Compass · Workflow
I want to start the week with a plan I can actually run
When the week is about to start and you have more possible work than available time, use this workflow to decide what matters, fit it around your real commitments, and leave with a plan you can execute.
The job this workflow helps me complete
Start from a trustworthy planning baseline.
When the week is about to start and you have more possible work than available time, use this workflow to decide what matters, fit it around your real commitments, and leave with a plan you can execute.
You’re done when your priorities, Focus Work, sequence, and Focus-Time blocks fit the week’s actual capacity, and the approved plan is saved for reference.
Prompt examples
Use any of these phrases to start this workflow.
plan my weeklet's start my weekset up my weekweekly planningstart my week
- Calendar connected: the calendar connection must be working.
- Prior week closed: the latest weekly log must contain a completed
## Closesection. This check is skipped when no prior log exists. - Work Plan calendar ready: only when calendar projection is enabled. A writable Work Plan calendar is required; otherwise the plan remains local.
- No planning without a connected calendar.
- Off-calendar commitments must be resolved before capacity is finalized.
- A committed calendar event always wins over planned work.
- The full focus-block proposal must be approved before any calendar block is created.
- Zero priorities is valid; you can use priority-enabled, task-list, or ask-each-week mode.
- Work Plan is optional. Never substitute the official Work Calendar or another calendar when Work Plan is unavailable.
What the workflow does
From an open week to an approved plan.
The Weekly Plan Planner opens the work week by scanning active workspace priorities, reading calendar commitments, building a realistic capacity picture, collecting your priorities and reviewing the To-Do List, checking sequencing and overload, proposing Focus-Time blocks, and saving the approved weekly plan.
It produces a plan you can execute, not an aspirational list that collapses by Tuesday.
How this workflow is built
Context, knowledge, templates, and the mechanism output.
The workflow uses a small set of familiar building blocks. Each one controls a different part of the experience.
Context
The workflow has access to your calendar, workspace list, planning preferences, Work Compass rules, To-Do List, and previous weekly log. It uses that context to build the plan around your actual work.
Knowledge
Your calendar configuration, planning preferences, and Work Compass rules define how capacity, planning choices, calendar protection, task sizing, and focus blocks work. Change those settings when you want to change the rules the workflow follows.
Templates
| Template | What it controls | How you can modify it |
|---|---|---|
prompt-interview-workspace-priorities.md | The conversation used to capture or update workspace priorities. | Change the questions or ordering when you want a different priority-setting conversation. |
doc-compass-weekly-log.md | The structure of the weekly record that gets saved. | Change the sections when you need the saved weekly record to capture different information. |
render-compass-week-planner.md | The proposal layout, capacity view, and explanation you review before approval. | Change the presentation when you need the weekly plan to be easier to review or act on. |
Output
The workflow saves the approved weekly plan as a Compass weekly log in Outputs/logs/compass-weekly/. That log becomes the record you use during the week and when you close it.
How it moves you from an open week to an approved plan
Build the plan in a deliberate sequence.
- 01
Get grounded.
Confirm that the previous week is closed, review your workspace priorities, and check the calendar and any commitments that are not yet on it.
- 02
Decide what matters.
Tell Work Compass what you are working on. It brings in relevant inbox items and lets you review the shared To-Do List so the week starts with the right work in view.
- 03
Make the work executable.
Turn the priorities into Focus Work, break down anything too large, assign realistic time sizes, and put dependent work in the right order.
- 04
Test the plan against reality.
Work Compass checks conflicts, forcing functions, and available capacity. If the week is overloaded, you revise what will be done before anything is scheduled.
- 05
Agree and record the week.
Review the complete Focus-Time proposal, approve or change it as a set, then Work Compass creates and verifies the approved calendar blocks and saves the final weekly log.
To-Do List items remain on the shared To-Do List unless you deliberately attach one to a priority. They are not individually sized or scheduled during weekly planning, and no calendar change happens before you approve the complete proposal.
The workflow pauses for your response at required checks and confirmation points. It must not continue past a blocked condition or create calendar events before you approve the full proposal.
The output: what happens and where it goes
What gets created and where it goes.
| Output | What happens | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly log | Records the approved plan, what happened during the week, and the close. | Outputs/logs/compass-weekly/ as YYYY-MM-DD-compass-weekly-log.md |
| Focus-Time blocks | Approved Focus Work is placed on the calendar and verified after the complete proposal is approved. | The Priority Calendar; if it is unavailable, the proposal stays local. |
| To-Do List items | New confirmed items are captured, and existing items remain available for later unless you attach one to a priority. | The shared To-Do List or the selected weekly priority. |
You review and confirm the complete plan before the weekly log is saved or any calendar blocks are created.
How you know it worked, and what to do when it doesn’t
Verify the plan and recover without flattening the workflow.
You know it worked when you finish with a week you can actually see yourself following:
- You know what matters this week and why.
- The important work fits around the commitments already in your calendar.
- Each priority has a clear next piece of Focus Work, in a sensible order and a size that fits your available time.
- To-Do List items have a deliberate home: they are attached to a priority, or they remain on the shared To-Do List for later.
- You have reviewed and approved the complete Focus-Time plan, and the weekly log gives you one place to return to during the week.
If the plan does not reach that state, Work Compass stops and tells you what needs attention. Connect the calendar if it is unavailable, close the previous week if it is still open, or drop, defer, or reshape work if the week is overloaded. If a Work Plan calendar is unavailable, keep the approved plan local rather than moving it to another calendar. You decide how to resolve conflicts; Work Compass does not move or decline committed events for you.