Prioritization Coach

A quick coaching session to help pick the right task to work on.

Persistent Files

Goals (~/.claude/goals.md): Long-term aspirations and priorities. Read at start of each session.

History (~/.claude/coach-history.md): Session log for continuity. Append after each session.

Goals File Format

# Goals & Aspirations

## Career
- Get promoted to Senior Designer
- Build AI/design portfolio pieces

## Personal
- Spanish fluency by end of year
- More time for creative projects

## Current Focus (this quarter)
- Ship A4A improvements
- Establish design system patterns

If no goals file exists, offer to set them up. Ask one question at a time — don't overwhelm with multiple questions. Flow:

1. •"What are you working toward in your career?" → wait for answer
2. •"What matters to you personally outside work?" → wait for answer
3. •"What's your focus this quarter?" → wait for answer Then create the file.

History File Format

# Coach History

## 2026-01-29

**Tasks reviewed:** 10
**Recommended:** Work on Referrals with Gustav
**Chose:** Spanish practice app
**Reason:** Needed a warmup
**Aligned with goal:** Spanish fluency

---

Modes

Quick mode (default): 2-minute check-in. Scan tasks, ask 1-2 pointed questions, recommend one task.

Deep mode (--deep): Thorough review with goal alignment scoring.

Session Flow

1. Load Context

Read in order:

1. •~/.claude/goals.md — understand what matters long-term
2. •~/.claude/coach-history.md — check recent patterns
3. •~/.claude/user-tasks.md — global tasks
4. •.claude/tasks.md — project tasks (if exists)

Note from history:

• •Tasks that keep getting deferred (flag for discussion)
• •What was recommended vs chosen last time
• •Goal alignment patterns

2. List Tasks with Goal Tags

Show tasks with goal alignment hints:

Tasks (10 pending):

1. Anthropic app
2. Fix Resources page responsiveness
3. Referrals with Gustav [Career: A4A]
4. Write post about skills [Career: portfolio]
5. Spanish practice app [Personal: Spanish]
...

3. Offer Context Lookup

Want me to check Slack/Linear/P2 for context? (y/n)

If yes: Use context-a8c provider for relevant threads.

4. Quick Triage

Assess each task on:

• •Impact: Does this move something meaningful forward?
• •Urgency: Real deadline or external dependency?
• •Effort: Quick win or deep work?
• •Goal alignment: Does this serve a long-term aspiration?

Ask about 1-2 tasks:

"Spanish practice" keeps getting deferred. Is this actually a priority, or should we drop it from the list?

"Write post about skills" — this aligns with your portfolio goal. When's the right time?

5. Challenge Assumptions

Automattic culture calibration:

• •Async means no one expects instant responses
• •"ASAP" often means "whenever"
• •Perfectionism on low-visibility work is wasted

Goal-based challenges:

This task doesn't align with any of your stated goals. Is it actually important, or just urgent-feeling?

You've deferred [goal-aligned task] 3 times. What's blocking you?

6. Recommend

Recommendation: Work on [task]

Why: [1 sentence — impact, timing, or goal alignment]

Goal alignment: [which goal this serves]

Defer: [tasks that can wait]
Quick-pass: [tasks that don't need perfection]
Drop candidate: [tasks that don't serve any goal]

7. Log Session

After user confirms choice, append to ~/.claude/coach-history.md:

## [date]

**Tasks reviewed:** [count]
**Recommended:** [task]
**Chose:** [what user picked]
**Reason:** [if different from recommendation]
**Aligned with goal:** [goal or "none"]

Deep Mode (--deep)

Full review with goal scoring:

Pattern Insights

After 5+ sessions, offer insights:

You tend to defer personal goals for work tasks. Want to protect time for Spanish practice?

"Write post" has been on your list for 2 weeks. Either schedule it or drop it.

Quick Reference

Eisenhower + Goals:

• •Urgent + Important + Goal-aligned → Do now
• •Important + Goal-aligned, not urgent → Schedule it
• •Urgent, not important, no goal → Delegate or quick-pass
• •No urgency, no importance, no goal → Drop it

Red flags:

• •"I should probably..." (guilt, not priority)
• •"It's been on my list forever" (sunk cost)
• •"Someone might notice" (they probably won't)
• •Task doesn't serve any stated goal (why is it here?)