The prep timeline

For you only

Two weeks is comfortable. One week is possible. The order matters more than the dates.

T minus 14: Pick the fight. ☐ Choose the challenge area (the stuck decision, the repeated complaint, the untested belief, Chapter 13) ☐ Get your manager's yes ☐ Book the sponsor's last hour, and brief them or send the briefing note ☐ Book a room with a wall you can tape things to, and a screen

T minus 10: Fill the room. ☐ Invite six to eight people, one line each, sold by role ☐ Plan the pairs, odd couples first ☐ Draft the brief, alone or with one other person

T minus 7: Make it testable. ☐ Run the one-person test on the brief (Chapter 13). Tighten. Repeat once. ☐ Start recruiting five test users who roughly match the user in the brief (Chapter 11) ☐ Pick the default build tool, create accounts, check the office wifi does not block it

T minus 3: Close the loops. ☐ Confirm the five users for the 15:30 to 16:00 window, with a calendar invite each ☐ Confirm the sponsor, resend the one-pager ☐ Print the handouts (Appendix A), the brief big, and the schedule bigger ☐ Order snacks. Real ones. The day runs on them more than on lunch.

T minus 1: Sleep. ☐ Send the room a one-line reminder: when, where, bring a laptop and a charger, no prep needed ☐ Charge the speaker, load the playlist ☐ Read the brief out loud one last time. If you need a second breath, it is two challenges. Fix it tonight, not at 9:15.

The pattern behind the checklist: everything that involves another human being happens early, everything that involves paper and snacks happens late. People are the long pole. Paper never declines a meeting.