Overview
Weekly report is usually used for task/project in an organization, the objectives include
- For the organization
- Help monitor and control the task/project
- Improve communication in the organization and keep stakeholders informed
- Gain more organizational support for the task/project
- For the reporter
- To make sure daily/weekly work is aligned with the objectives of the project or helpful to accomplish the given task.
- Demonstrate individual achievement to the supervisor, which might be one factor in performance evaluation. Especially for junior members, it’s a quick way to show his/her potential in the project.
- To ask for help if there are obstacles in achieving the objectives.
Daily report is similar to weekly report. In software development, Daily Stand-up meeting is a well-known way although it doesn’t require a written report.
What Should Be Included in Weekly Report?
Progress,Plan,Problems (PPP) status reporting is one technique (Yes, it’s called technique in Wikipedia) to write Weekly Report. Contents are clear according to the name, they are Progress, Plan and Problems.
The discussion outline in Stand-up meeting in Scrum also have 3 sections, which are almost identical to PPP status reporting.
Progress
Report finished tasks. Describe the objective the task contributes to, or the conclusion of the task.
Plan
Describe objectives for the next reporting period.
Problem
Tasks which can’t be finished as planned, or unexpected issues which block other tasks to achieve objectives. Please state the impact of the problems.
Other sections can be added, like Reminder to someone or the milestone review. Remember to keep consistent across the team/organization.
Tips
Clarify Objectives
Even in a project which has fine-grained WBS, some tasks are not clearly identified in the beginning phase, nevertheless in a project without good breakdown. Therefore sometimes we write what we did and what we plan to do in the weekly report without stating the objectives those tasks for.
In Stand-up meeting, the first item to report also shows the importance of sprint goal.
- What did I do yesterday that helped the development team meet the sprint goal?
Without clear objectives, the project will have high possibility to be delayed and have deviation.
Write Status Report, Not Journal Log
Example 1
Discuss with operation team about deployment
What’s the status (result) of the discussion?
A better report can be
Get the conclusion after discussion that operation team will write the script to deploy the artifact in this week.
Example 2
Write user manual
Is it finished?
A clear report can be
User manual document has been reviewed by stakeholders, and committed in project repository
Or
[WIP] Write user manual
The work in progress is NOT recommended to be included in weekly report.
Progress,Plan,Problems status reporting states that
Progress. Employee’s
accomplishments,finisheditems andclosedtasks for the period ending.
Decompose the Work
Sometimes we may feel it’s ‘difficult’ to write the progress/plan, for example, the progress and plan are very similar
Progress: [WIP] Implement authentication module
Plan: Continue the implementation of authentication modules
A task which takes several weeks usually means the decomposition of task is not enough. Work breakdown structure can help organize the work into manageable sections.
In Agile, iteration with short period may drive us to decompose our work more.
State the Impact of the Problems
Tens of or hundreds of problems occur every week, depends on the size of the project/organization. A problem without stating its impact on the objectives might be regarded as low priority or even be ignored.
For example
Haven’t received material from the supplier due to typhoon.
A better description
Shipping date (2 weeks later, 09/12) will be affected since we haven’t received material from the supplier due to typhoon.
Notice: Weekly report is not intended for solving urgent cases. For above case, it’s usually reported immediately. Weekly report is just a summary for the urgent case.
Keep Concise
Don’t make the report too long. If we want to share findings/results, book another meeting or attach them in another document.
Supervisor/Peers Need to Give Feedback
Questions, suggestion, and echoes are welcomed. Junior members can gain experience from peers and know if their work is aligned with the objectives from supervisor.
Summary
Weekly Report is beneficial for both organizations and individuals. It’s important to describe the work tightly related with objectives in the report, and make the report concise.
References
[1] Stand-up meeting