(2015-12-17) Pearson Antifragile Quarterly Planning Optimizing For Optionality

Taylor Pearson on AntiFragile Planning: Optimizing for Optionality (without Chasing Shiny Objects)

At the end of 2014, I published an article on my annual planning process. Three months into 2015, I threw it in the trash and moved to a quarterly business review template

This framework is from Reid Hoffman’s and Ben Cashnocha’s The Startup of You.

Every 90 days (quarterly) (Quarterly Review), I re-evaluate what I want (my long term vision), what people will pay for (the market), and what I’m good at (my strengths) on a high level basis. I then set a single, falsifiable (yes/no or quantifiable) goal which I hypothesize to be the most impactful move towards that objective.

To quickly map the diagram to the terms I’ve used:

• “What I do well” = Focus – If you want to be good at something, you have to do a lot of it.
• “What people will pay for” = Optionality – The market is constantly shifting and better to retain optionality to take advantage of the obvious opportunities.
• “What I want to do” – Life happens. You change your mind about things