Move Fast #2: Ask for weekly updates
One of the silent killers of velocity is lingering disagreements. Teams can spend a lot of time weighing pros/cons and trying to broker an agreement - executive escalation is usually seen as a failure state of last resort. Some companies have attempted to institute cultural norms to ensure quick escalation (such as "Five Day Alignment"), but instituting new norms is challenging and slow.
I’ve found that asking project teams for a brief weekly update forces timely escalation and provides clarity on milestones. I have written my fair share of weekly updates, and I used to dread them as they would inadvertently evolve into lengthy updates with a very low signal-to-noise ratio.
To avoid this, I’m extremely prescriptive about what information is helpful to share in a weekly update. My preferred format is below:
***
If you have landed here, mads@ has likely asked you to send weekly updates. What you are doing is most likely:
Critical to Calms overall success
Highly cross-functional
The ask is not a judgment on progress to date or an indirect critique of progress. In a fast-moving environment, everyone quickly gets fragmented, and a ‘push’ update system such as a simple email has been a very effective way to drive clarity and ensure executive support for your initiative.
A great weekly update is:
Short: 3 Bullets only (see template below), link to any details.
Frequent: Always weekly on the same weekday – free choice on which weekday/
Anchored in top-line metric: Start with top-line metric, no need to call out small movements.
Sent by anyone on the working team: The Sender does not have to be the DRI or the most senior person in the working group.
To avoid weekly updates becoming too high effort / low impact, I’m providing a specific template I would like you to follow:
Template
To: [distribution list]
Subject: [Name of effort] Weekly (date)
Body:
Absolute key metric, WoW, YoY & any commentary if movement is meaningful
Key milestone achieved this week
Key milestone for next week
A good weekly update
To: leads-distro
Subject: [project alpha] Weekly Update (1/3/22)
Body:
700 weekly widgets sold, -1% WoW, +100% YoY
Launched the widget 2.0 in Metropolis on 1/2 (readout)
Key milestone next week: Complete user research on widget 3.0
A subpar weekly update
To: Joe, Jim, Jane <- create a google distro and let people self-enroll/unsubscribe. Also gives you email history for free for new folks joining after you start sending updates
Subject: Weekly update <- with no distinct identifier in subject email rules break easily when a new sender takes over
We saw 10% increase in metropolis conversion test <- partial metric, base rate bias. Always refer to the top metric in absolute terms
Product <- bullets should not be a roll-up of all functional activities, focus on the most important milestone
We met and discussed the next city to launch in<- outcomes only as milestones, ‘plan for a plan’ or meetings/discussions are not an outcome
Marketing
Good progress on hiring <- dimensionalize where possible. Use a numerical quantifier instead of ‘good’