Daily Planning
Guidelines for writing Daily Plans at EnergyAE.
A good daily plan should make it easy for another person to understand:
- what you are doing today
- why you are doing it
- how you plan to do it
- what output should exist by the end of the day
- what assumptions, risks, or questions could affect progress
- prioritising one primary task per day
The purpose of a daily plan is not simply to name a topic or project area. Statements such as “Working on AEXXX modelling project” or “Writing XXX website article” are too vague and do not provide enough information for effective review or support.
Daily plans are especially important for complex tasks such as modelling, technical writing, TRNSYS development, automation, and new project work.
Daily plans are expected to be sent to the manager within 1 hour of starting work for the day.
Each person must list only one primary task per day
Daily plans often list several tasks, but realistically only one or two can be completed in a given day.
It is important to simplify planning to improve focus.
In daily plans, list only one Primary task only. Include a secondary task only if time allows.
We want fewer tasks planned and more tasks completed properly.
Additional small tasks
Any given day also presents many small tasks: Gate A/B reviews, RFI responses, client emails & calls.
These are neither primary or secondary tasks. They are ad-hoc tasks.
These can be added as brief bullet points in addition to the primary task plan and do not need extensive planning. Use enough detail as is required.
Daily Plan Template
Use the following template:
Subject line
Daily plan – [Name] – [Date]
Email body
1. Primary task today
[State the main task in one sentence]
2. Planned method / steps
[List the main steps you will take in 3–7 bullet points]
3. Expected output by end of day
[List tangible outputs]
4. Assumptions / questions / risks
[If applicable]
5. Help needed from others
[If applicable]
Optional: repeat same 5 points for secondary task if primary task is short.
Reading and Familiarisation Tasks
Reading or review tasks must produce an output. It is not acceptable to report only that reading is complete.
Required outputs may include:
- short summary or key takeaways
- questions
- proposed next steps
- Gate A/B review sheets
These should be delivered by email.