Every Friday, there are a lot of troubles waiting for us, such as weekly meetings, projects, plans and so on, so busy and headache, but in fact, these are all ok, really let a person cry without tears, or should be “weekly”.

Weekly report is a weekly work report, including work plan, work summary, superior reply, etc., applicable to companies, departments, teams, social groups, project groups and other organizations, is one of the most common basic methods of organization and management.

Weekly report is a routine report in project communication, which can sort out the progress of the project, synchronize the latest progress and effect of the project, communicate the problems encountered, and get feedback from stakeholders.

This paper will introduce the three main parts of weekly report, the 3S principle of communication and the four key points of writing weekly report.

The three main sections of the weekly

1. This week’s work

This week’s job description consists of three parts:

  • Feedback on the deliverables achieved this week
  • Whether the task completion meets the expectation and why the task fails to meet the expectation
  • Overall health of the project and percentage of completion

ONES Iteration Plan

2. Problems encountered

A regular review of problems encountered and solutions is of great benefit to the successful completion of the project. The weekly report should mainly include:

  • Open issues: New issues and solutions that emerged this week, status updates on previously identified issues and their management policies
  • Pending risks: New risks that emerge this week and a management plan to deal with them
  • Coordination requests: Which parties are needed for coordination on outstanding issues this week

Catalog dashboard

3. Work plan for next week

Identify your priorities and priorities for the coming week to manage your time more rationally. Take the following steps:

  • Make a list of key tasks for the coming week
  • Define output goals for each task
  • Assess the amount of tasks, plan time allocation, and identify time nodes

ONES Resource Management

The 3S principle of effective communication

The purpose of weekly reports is to communicate. The 3s principles of communication: Simple, Specific, soft also apply to weekly reports:

1. Be concise, focusing on the “core message” and rejecting redundant information

2. Be clear and ensure the effective transmission of information

3. Be non-confrontational and seek common goals

Four points

Starting from the 3s principle of communication, four key points of writing weekly report are summarized.

Catalog Wiki documentation

1. Focus on outputs, not processes

When writing a weekly project report, keep one principle in mind: be results-oriented. Results oriented means you show what you’ve done, not what you’ve done.

2. Focus first

Since stakeholders may not read the entire report carefully, it is important to place the core part at the beginning of the report to ensure that stakeholders get the most important information.

Catalog gantt chart

3. Use data charts

In addition to text, use data charts. Data is more convincing, pictures are more intuitive than text, and use visual effects as much as possible, such as schedules, Gantt charts, burnt-out charts, etc.

Catalog statements

4. Non-confrontational two-point practice

Seek common goals (e.g., project goals) to describe contentious parts of your work this week. The part of the description that requires the help of the relevant party may take the form of an appeal to the benefit of the other party and the project as a whole.

To write an excellent weekly project report is not overnight, after understanding the relevant methods and skills, more need to be deliberate practice.