Summary:

My weekly planning is very simple.  I follow a checklist that draws from a lot of other planning techniques.  I dump my lists into a spreadsheet with about 12 tabs on it.  The tabs are all categories of stuff I do, plus one summary tab.  I'm considering using trello, but that app is not quite there, yet.  

I limit each task on the checklist to 15 min (absolute max) - that means that I can't give more than a one-sentence answer to emails - if that - and I can only identify physical mail as important or unimportant - I can't work on it.  To accommodate this, I use stars in google mail or forward email messages to a system that can track them.  To accomodate the whole thing, I require a strong cup of coffee.

The whole thing takes less than one hour per week on Sunday.  Even if I skip it for a few days, I stop what I'm doing as soon as I realize how dumb that is, and do it, even if it's the middle of the week.

After I do my weekly planning, I only have to do a tiny bit of daily planning to grab items off my master task list.  It's all pomodoro technique from there on out.

Weekly Planning Checklist:

1) Clean up physical space - desk, backpack, laptop, physical mail - (limit 15 min)

2) Clean up digital space - desktop, inbox(es) - (limit 15 min)

3) Visit each tab (sub-list) on my master todo list, and brain dump any new stuff I have, removing any old stuff that is no longer relevant.  I can add or rename tabs, but realistically it stays at about 12.

Note: In case it wasn't clear, sub-lists are tabs labeled by category (home_repair, consulting_for_x, writing, family, budget_paperwork, buy, sell, business_x, infrastructure, retraining, etc.)  

As I visit each sublist, I mark three tasks on each list as special tasks: Most Important, Most Want To Do, and Most Resistant.  I also mark any task that is due by a certain date (doesn't matter what the date is) as Due.  

All the tasks I mark show up automatically on a tab called Summary_Tasks. (limit 15 min)

4) Calendar for the week.  Some appointments will invariably already be on the calendar.  I add personal stuff first (exercise, training, reading, meditation, etc.), followed by selected tasks that are marked Due, because they have to be done by a certain time.  I don't calendar any other specific tasks, but I block time to do work.  Big-ass blocks of time marked "pomodoro at location" will be on my calendar.  I consider everything not marked to be reserved for relaxation, time with family, etc. and I try to keep as much of it open as possible.

My pomodoro time is when pretty much all my work will be done.  If I can get 40 hours of that in per week, after commute time, that's ideal (and a little miraculous).

Links:

Brett McKay from the art of manliness on weekly planning. - Great summary of his method, obviously drawing on a lot of other peoples writing and his own experience.

Matt Vance's wiki has a summary of David Allens Getting Things Done  - The key components of weekly planning are all there.