Monday — Set Course
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Duration: 30 minutes Facilitator: Rotates weekly When: Start of the week (Monday by default; shift to match your working week)
Purpose
Agree what we intend to Land this week. Everyone leaves knowing what outcome matters most and what work supports it. This guide assumes a single boat of 4–5 engineers.
If the team is unsure what should win this week, use How to Choose This Week’s Landing.
Before the Meeting (Facilitator, 5 min prep)
- Pull up the board
- Note what’s still in flight from last week
- Check WIP limits — are we at cap?
- Flag any new urgent Run that came in over the weekend
- If the priority is unclear, open How to Choose This Week’s Landing
Script
| Time | Activity | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Board review | What’s still in flight? Anything that should have landed last week but didn’t? |
| 5–15 min | Name this week’s intended Landing(s) | For each: who benefits, what’s the outcome, what type (Customer/Business/Platform/Decision)? |
| 15–20 min | WIP check | Are we at the limit? What needs to finish before we start anything new? |
| 20–25 min | Run check | Any reactive work eating capacity? Any proactive Run we should schedule? |
| 25–30 min | Confirm ownership | Every active item has a named owner. Every person can state what they’re focused on. |
A WIP item is a meaningful unit of work the team is steering, not an individual ticket or subtask.
Outputs
- Board updated with this week’s intended Landings
- Every active item has an owner
- WIP limits respected (or explicit exception named with what’s paused)
- Each team member can answer: “What am I working on and why does it matter?”
Anti-Patterns
- Don’t load up new starts because people feel free. Do ask what needs to finish before asking what should start.
- Don’t treat Set Course as sprint planning with task assignments. Do set direction and intended outcomes, not task lists.
- Don’t skip the WIP check. Do respect the limits or name the exception.
- Don’t let items carry forward without acknowledging it. Do say why something did not land and decide whether to continue, cut scope, or drop it.
- Don’t let the meeting run longer than 30 minutes. Do save detailed planning for Route Planning.