Weekly Priorities

Weekly Priorities help you focus on what matters most each week. Unlike task lists that grow endlessly, priorities force clarity by limiting you to one goal per team, per week.

The Philosophy

Priorities answer one question: “What’s the single most important thing you’ll accomplish this week?”

This constraint is intentional:

Forces clarity: You can’t say everything is a priority
Enables accountability: It’s clear what you committed to
Reduces noise: Managers see focused goals, not task dumps

How Priorities Work

Monday prompt

Each Monday, you receive a reminder to set your weekly priority for each team you’re on.
Set your goal

Write a clear, achievable goal for the week. Be specific.
Work the week

Focus on your priority alongside regular work.
Friday follow-up

Record the outcome:
- Completed: You achieved the goal
- Shifted: Priority changed mid-week (explain why)
- Dropped: Couldn’t complete it (explain why)

Setting Good Priorities

Be Specific

Bad	Good
”Work on auth"	"Ship password reset flow"
"Fix bugs"	"Resolve the 3 critical payment bugs"
"Meetings"	"Finalize Q1 roadmap with stakeholders”

Be Achievable

One week is the time frame
Consider other commitments
Better to complete a smaller goal than abandon a larger one

Be Measurable

You should know by Friday if you achieved it. “Ship feature X” is measurable. “Make progress on Y” is not.

Recording Outcomes

At week’s end, record what happened:

Completed

You achieved the goal. Great!

No additional context needed—the goal speaks for itself.

Shifted

The priority changed mid-week. This happens for valid reasons:

New urgent work emerged
Dependencies weren’t ready
Strategic direction changed

When marking as Shifted, explain why. This creates a record of context switches.

Dropped

You couldn’t complete the priority. Be honest about why:

Underestimated complexity
Blocked by dependencies
Personal circumstances
Simply didn’t get to it

Visibility

Like other Murmurd content, priorities have visibility levels:

Visibility	Who Sees
Team	Team members only
Org	Everyone in the organization

Priorities are typically Team-visible by default.

Personal Trends

Track your patterns over time:

Completion rate: % of priorities completed
Shift frequency: How often priorities change
8-week trend chart: Visual history

This data helps you:

Calibrate your goal-setting
Identify recurring blockers
Have informed conversations with managers

Team Statistics

Managers see aggregated (anonymized) team stats:

Team completion rates
Common shift/drop reasons
Trends over time

Slack Integration

If Slack is connected:

Monday Reminder

Receive a DM prompt to set your priority.

Friday Follow-up

Receive a reminder to record outcomes.

Quick Actions

Use the /priority slash command to set or update your priority.

Best Practices

Set priorities Monday morning: Start the week with clarity
One per team: Even if you’re on multiple teams, one priority each
Review Friday: Don’t let outcomes pile up
Be honest: Dropped priorities are learning opportunities, not failures
Use Shifted wisely: Context switches are real—document them

Priority vs. Check-in

Priorities	Check-ins
Weekly cadence	Daily cadence
One major goal	Multiple smaller updates
Outcome-focused	Activity-focused
Monday/Friday touchpoints	Daily touchpoints

Both work together: check-ins show daily progress, priorities show weekly commitments.