Weekly Updates [TEMPLATE]
Communicating team progress and priorities down & in, and up & out.
This template is a basic weekly update communication template based on the discussion in the companion article. It includes:
A basic template structure
2 examples, with one slightly varying on the template
These can be sent via email threads, Slack thread, Notion / Confluence pages — wherever it is your team communicates best.
Weekly Update Structure
Accomplishments
No more than 5 short points
an awesome week that didn't happen to have any surprises (rare) would just regurgitate last week's priorities
Avoid just listing out tasks you did if they have no significant relevance to the greater team/company.
Top Priorities for next week
No more than 5 points (1 point is totally fine!).
Should be well defined ("Work on Project A" is not ok, "Complete XYZ analysis for Project A" is what i'd be looking for")
Not meant to be an exhaustive list of what you have on your mind to finish next week. Just the most important things if you were forced to only pick 3-5 things
Priorities for next month/quarter (whichever is more appropriate for the person/project)
No more than 5 points.
Dates should never be erased, if it slips by next week's update cross it out and highlight the new date. If colors are available on your messaging tool of choice, highlight it in red for slips, and if you pulled it in, use green.
Top Concerns/Problems
No more than 3 points
Can be concerns about their own work and/or things they have encountered outside of their control
if its a concern about their own work/project, I would hope to see a priority addressing this concern above!
Fun stuff
Pictures of team, tests, fun colorful CFD results, stuff you just want to show off about to the team, random fun stuff, etc.…
Examples
