• The presence of rigid, email-based status reports comes down to control, a lack of imagination, and a lack of trust in the organization. However, strategic assessment of the week is still needed, i.e., what is working and what is not
    • Often a good candidate for 1:1

Common parts:

  • Date and list of stakeholders
  • Previous’s week’s plan
  • This week’s progress
  • Next week’s plan

Previous’s week’s plan

  • Quote objectives, as reminder to the management. Keep it CONCISE

This week’s progress

  • May order by status, keep list of completed milestones, may keep them at the front, espeically if it is ahead of schedule.
  • What issues and challenges did we run into? What need to be addressed?
  • Any part of context we need to update? Include both before value and after value
  • What results, not effort, did we get?
  • If possible, include completion percetage and scheduled completion date. Note that status (is it on track?) is more important than progress
  • Organize by projects, NOT employee’s tasks!
  • Mention projects even if it has NO progress
  • May use metric dashboards and other visualization tool when there are too many metrics.
  • Maintain a daily log on activities
  • Do not wait for better result. Send report in-schdule, and we can update in person later.
  • Focus on accompolishments than tasks! Task is for ICs!

Next week’s plan

  • Objectives for the next week. Should include all items from the “In Progress” section
  • May include important events, e.g., meetings
  • Milestones should be SHARP, we can even trade being measurable for sharpness

  • May include relationship with long term goals

  • Managers shall not just read, but make comments in the employee’s report. Giving employees feedback is crucially important.
  • Weekly report is an effective way to get credits. Also, improves your visibility
  • Send it 24 hours before the report

References