quarter-plan

name	quarter-plan
description	Guided quarterly goal setting - brainstorm everything, pick 1-2 goals, make them SMART, break into a 12-week plan with a scorecard. Run at quarter start. Triggers on - quarter plan, quarterly plan, plan my quarter, quarterly planning, new quarter, quarterly goals, set my quarter.

Quarter plan

A guided planning session (45-90 minutes, can split across days) that ends with one file: _ops/quarters/YYYY-qN/plan.md. The method: review everything, pick one or two goals, define them properly, break them into weeks. Energy goes to one or two things; that is the whole secret.

Step 0: vision check

If _context/vision.md says STATUS: TEMPLATE, do that first (10 minutes, conversational: purpose, 3-5 year vision, values, want / do-not-want). Quarterly goals need a star to steer by. If it exists, show it back as a one-paragraph reminder.

Also: if a previous quarter's plan exists, open its last weekly snapshot and do a short retrospective first: final scorecard, what worked, what to carry.

Step 1: list everything (the brain pre-fills)

Before asking, GATHER from the brain: active projects/, areas/, unprocessed inbox/ items, wishlist entries from past weekly snapshots, current learn/ level and next milestone, and open loops from people/. Present the list: "here is everything you have in motion." Then ask what is missing, including non-work areas (family, health, finances, hobbies). Capture the full list plus a wishlist of someday-items.

Step 2: pick one or two

Rank candidates together using the five questions: Which are you most passionate about? Is there a strong why? Realistic in 12 weeks? What is the life impact? Actionable now, or waiting on something else?

Push toward ONE goal, two maximum. If the user resists cutting, do the math out loud: hours per week available vs hours each goal needs. Then make the picks SMART: specific number, quarter-end date. "Get better at agents" becomes "ship 2 agent projects and reach level 7 by (date)."

Step 3: why, and what conflicts

For each goal, capture in the user's words: the positive impact of achieving it, the negative cost of not doing it. Then name the realistic derailers (the job gets busy, the other shiny project, travel). Written down now, recognizable later.

Step 4: the 12-week breakdown

Compute the real week dates for the quarter. Work backward from the goal: what must be true at week 12, week 8, week 4? Then 2-3 outcomes per week, front-loaded lighter (week 1 is setup, momentum builds). Define the scorecard: countable outcomes with targets, marking which ones the brain can compute itself (ship log, content/published, learn progress, TIL count) as (auto).

Step 5: daily habits

Maximum 3 habits that make the weekly outcomes inevitable, each with a when and a how. Concrete beats ambitious: "45 min on the project before checking anything, weekdays" beats "work hard daily."

Write and wire

1. Create _ops/quarters/YYYY-qN/plan.md from _templates/quarter-plan.md, fully filled, plus an empty weeks/ folder next to it.
2. Rewrite _context/goals.md: this quarter's goals section now summarizes the plan and links to it (one source of truth: the plan).
3. Seed _ops/this-week.md with week 1 of the plan.
4. Append the decision (chosen goals AND what was deliberately not chosen) to _ops/decisions.md.
5. Close: "Weekly reviews keep this alive. Say 'weekly review' at the end of week 1; without that glue, this file is just a wish."

Rules

• The user picks the goals; you supply evidence and honest pushback, not preferences.
• If a brainstormed item conflicts with vision.md's do-not-want list, say so.
• Mid-quarter "re-plan my quarter" is allowed: revise the plan file, log the change and why in _ops/decisions.md, never silently rewrite history.