Frequently Asked Questions

Strategic Focus = Annual. Answers "how will we succeed this year?" These are the areas we're betting on — where we're putting our energy throughout the year to reach the vision.

Priorities = Quarterly. Answers "what do we need to do now?" These are the specific actions we're taking this quarter to advance our Strategic Focus.

Strategic Focus is the "how we'll get there." Priorities are "what we're doing right now."

Strategic Focus: 3-5 for your team

Q1 Priorities: 3-4 for your team

If you have more, you probably don't have priorities — you have a list. The whole point is focus.

Pick the primary one it ladders to. Most work has a primary driver even if it touches multiple areas. Don't overthink it — the goal is clarity, not perfect categorization.

Yes. If a Priority doesn't advance any of your Strategic Focus areas, ask yourself: why is this a priority?

That said, not every Strategic Focus needs a Priority every quarter. Some may be more back-loaded in the year.

Success criteria describe what success looks like — in words, not necessarily numbers yet.

For example: "Free tier launched and active user base growing" or "Roadmap approved with risk-adjusted backlog sufficient for 10% EBITDA path."

We'll translate these into Health Metrics (the numbers) later. For now, just describe what winning looks like.

Specific enough that at end of quarter, you could look at it and say "yes we did this" or "no we didn't."

Too vague: "Improve customer experience"

Better: "Reduce onboarding time to first successful recording by 50%"

If you can't tell whether you succeeded, it's not specific enough.

That's fine for now. Describe what success looks like in words. We'll figure out the measurement later — that's the "two-putt" approach.

Don't let "I don't know the exact metric" stop you from defining what you're trying to achieve.

Ongoing work that keeps the lights on is important, but it's not a "priority" in this framework — it's baseline expectations.

Priorities are about what you're changing or advancing this quarter, not what you're maintaining.

If BAU is consuming so much time that you can't make progress on priorities, that's a resourcing conversation to have with your leadership.

Good — that's exactly what this framework is designed to surface. If priorities conflict, you now have a shared language to discuss it.

Bring it up. Which priority ladders to a more critical Strategic Focus? Which has clearer success criteria? Let leadership help resolve if needed.

Conflicts that stay hidden cause more damage than conflicts that get discussed.

They can change, but it should be deliberate and communicated — not a quiet drift.

If something major shifts (new information, market change, leadership decision), update your priorities in the tool and communicate why. Don't just abandon them silently.

Strategic Focus: Set annually, reviewed at each quarterly collab week

Priorities: Set each quarter, checked against regularly (how often is up to your team)

Health Metrics: Tracked ongoing once we establish them

With your team. Alignment starts at home — if your own team isn't aligned on priorities, you can't align with others.

Use Tuesday's office hours to work with your team on this.

First pass by your Wednesday/Thursday readout. You'll present your team's Strategic Focus and Q1 Priorities during your slot.

These don't need to be perfect — we'll refine together. But come prepared with your best thinking.

Yes. That's part of the Wednesday/Thursday sessions. You'll present, we'll discuss, and we'll identify gaps, dependencies, and conflicts together.

The tool also lets leadership see all priorities roll up, so we can spot alignment issues and help resolve them.

That's okay — bring your best thinking. The sessions this week are designed to refine, not judge.

The AI assistant in the tool can help you write well-formed objectives. And you can update in real-time as you hear company context and get feedback.

Go to q1-priorities.pages.dev. You'll need to authenticate with your team.

Yes. The tool supports real-time updates. As you hear company context during sessions and refine your thinking, you can update directly.

It helps you write well-formed objectives. If your Strategic Focus or Priority is vague or doesn't follow the format, it'll suggest improvements.

You can accept its suggestions, edit manually, or ignore them — it's there to help, not enforce.