Annual planning process

This is the schedule for how we run various planning processes at PostHog throughout the year, together with explanations for what each thing is and who takes part. We intentionally keep things as light as possible, but have started introducing some slightly more structured processes around longer lead things like hiring and deciding which products to build.

Besides _very_ high level financial forecasting, we don't plan out any further than 12 months, because things change and we don't want to feel locked into something that doesn't make sense. All 12 month plans are rolling, and we update them every three months at least.

Changes to the plan can happen outside of this schedule - this is a rough guide, not a strict timetable.

| Month | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | | ------------- | ------------------------ | --------------------- | -------------------- | ----------------------- | | January | Monthly accounts review | 12 month product plan | 12 month hiring plan | Monthly accounts review | | February | Board meeting | | | Monthly accounts review | | March | | Q2 goal setting | | Monthly accounts review | | April | | 12 month product plan | 12 month hiring plan | Monthly accounts review | | May | Board meeting | Whole company offsite | | Monthly accounts review | | June | H2 financial re-forecast | Q3 goal setting | | Monthly accounts review | | July | | 12 month product plan | 12 month hiring plan | Monthly accounts review | | August | Board meeting | | | Monthly accounts review | | September | | Q4 goal setting | | Monthly accounts review | | October | | 12 month product plan | 12 month hiring plan | Monthly accounts review | | November | Board meeting | | | Monthly accounts review | | December | Financial forecast | Q1 goal setting | | Holidays - keep empty |

What each meeting does

12 month product plan

What: We update our rolling 12 month plan, which tells us what products to build next. This then tells us who we need to hire to support the plan. The output of this plan feeds into quarterly goal setting (below).

Who:

12 month hiring plan

What: We update our rolling 12 month hiring plan, which tells us who we need to hire beyond the current quarter. The hiring plan lives in Pry.

Who:

Board meeting

What: Quarterly meeting to update the board on progress and talk through 1-2 strategic topics. Board packs are stored in Google Drive.

Who: , occasional guest presenter

Org tidy up

What: Go through all the small teams, make sure everyone is happy and in the right place, make any changes needed to support new products/general scaling.

Who:

Financial forecast

What: Review the 3 year financial forecast, add another year. Tweak based on past performance, then check it is realistic, and keeps us on track. The forecast lives in Pry.

Who: Fraser,

H2 financial reforecast

What: Midway through the year check that the 3 year forecast makes sense, tweak if necessary

Who: Fraser, Charles

Monthly accounts review

What: Review last month's management accounts against budget. November's accounts review happens in January, due to the holidays in December, as we typically get our monthly accounts around the 21st of the following month.

Who: Fraser, Charles

Pay reviews

What: We run these 3 times a year. Not in the calendar as the times shift year to year and we want flexibility as we grow.

Who:

Quarterly goal setting

What: Blitzscale pre-meeting, then individual teams meet to run their own processes.

Who: , then team leads

Whole company offsite

What: Hopefully somewhere warm.

Who: Everyone