Dashboard
Weekly report with templates
How to Create a Weekly Report (with templates and examples)
If you are a product manager or developer, writing an effective weekly status report about what got done in the last week, and the steps forward is a crucial skill to acquire. In the blog we are going to look at the best format/structure for a weekly report. Going to focus on parts of the status report you should highlight, and give you a template with examples to show you how it's done.
Arjun Rajkumar
October 06, 2024
Most reports will follow a similar format/template: What are you planning to do this week? How are the previous tasks progressing, and are there any blockers/problems you are facing at the moment? One of the critical points is how you gather information from your team. How can you see the status of the pending tasks done by the team quickly? Are you holding meetings or daily standups with your team to understand progress? You have to have a format - either a daily standup, or tracking information regarding tasks from a project management tool, or collecting a weekly report from your team to know the status of the tasks, the problems your team faces.
- Keep it simple Have a system that makes it easy for you team to submit the reports weekly
- Answer three questions What did you get done this week? What are the upcoming tasks? Any blockers stopping you from going forward?
- Share the reports Make it easy to share the reports with your team
Collecting progress updates weekly from your team via a specific tool is really useful - as you don't have to be all over the place, and can create a weekly report quickly. Whatever method you choose, you should keep improving it until you arrive at something that can go on every week without fail.
How to prepare your weekly report
Most weekly reports fail because it takes too much time to collect the information. Hence, having a quick and easy way to gather information from your team is critical to writing effective weekly reports. For each member of your team, you should collect their recent accomplishments, what they are currently working on, whats their next task, any problems (+solutions they brought) they faced, plus any outstanding/standout work you'd like to include.
How to track what you and your co-workers did:
Here are a few templates you can follow for collecting information related to weekly reports from each of your co-workers:
The three P's weekly format template:
- What are you planning to do this week?
- How are the previous tasks progressing?
- Are there any problems you are facing at the moment?
Objective's weekly template:
- What are your top objectives done in the last week?
- Any concerns?
- What is next week's plans?
Simplified one question format:
- What will you be working on this week?
The four box system template:
- Box 1 is what they got done this week
- Box 2 is what are the upcoming planned tasks for the next week
- Box 3 is problems/blockers/ potential stoppages that are coming up (this is crucial to know and to catch it early)
- Box 4 is any other relevant information
The 5-15 weekly report template:
This template basically says that the report should not take more than 5 minutes to read and no more than 15 minutes to complete. This way you end of up with short, powerful reports that do no waste anyones time with unnecessary information.
All the above templates can literally be a one-page document, or powerpoint, or an email, or you could use a software that is built specifically for getting progress updates. Either way collecting this information the right way is crucial for creating an effective weekly report.
How often should you send the weekly reports:
Simplified one question format:
- What will you be working on this week?
The four box system template:
- Box 1 is what they got done this week
- Box 2 is what are the upcoming planned tasks for the next week
- Box 3 is problems/blockers/ potential stoppages that are coming up (this is crucial to know and to catch it early)
- Box 4 is any other relevant information
The 5-15 weekly report template:
This template basically says that the report should not take more than 5 minutes to read and no more than 15 minutes to complete. This way you end of up with short, powerful reports that do no waste anyones time with unnecessary information.
All the above templates can literally be a one-page document, or powerpoint, or an email, or you could use a software that is built specifically for getting progress updates. Either way collecting this information the right way is crucial for creating an effective weekly report.
How often should you send the weekly reports:
The idea is to find a template that works well with your team and then to collect the information weekly. At the beginning of every week - maybe on every Monday morning - you can automate the report, so that everyone on your team receives the template questions. Make sure to also provide examples so that junior co-workers or new employees have a good idea on the format to follow. The best way to see if your weekly report is useful is to check if the information provided in the report was read and implemented by the person. Keep getting feedback and improve the weekly status reports until they make your whole team more productive.
Different types of weekly reports:
Weekly activity reports for higher management and leadership teams:
If you are writing a report that is going to be read by higher-ups in your team, you should ideally focus more on the macro view. The template can consist of two main points which can be addressed in any order. You can either start with the blockers or the achievements done by the team in the last week. If you start on a high level win that your team has achieved in the last week, you can then follow that up with any blockers or problems that the team is currently experiencing, and the potential solutions to it. It would be best if you can speak to the higher management team to understand what it is that they are looking for from the report. What will make their job easier? If anything else should be included that wasn't? Keep getting feedback and tweaking the template until they are happy with what they get out of the report. Regarding the macro/high-level approach - you dont need to include any specific code that was written. Higher management does not really care about that. They want to know the outcome. Also, do not list every single thing that was done - only the important wins and problems.
Weekly status reports for your internal team:
If you are writing this for your internal team - maybe a developer who is blocked by something, you should start by addressing the blocker. Instead of a macro view, get very specific with all the details. Your internal team wants to know more information regarding their specific problem and how to get past that, so the weekly activity report should focus on details - the code, the solution. Again, speak to the internal team and check if the report addresses all their concerns. Keep iterating until the internal team is happy with the weekly activity report.
Different types of weekly reports:
Weekly activity reports for higher management and leadership teams:
If you are writing a report that is going to be read by higher-ups in your team, you should ideally focus more on the macro view. The template can consist of two main points which can be addressed in any order. You can either start with the blockers or the achievements done by the team in the last week. If you start on a high level win that your team has achieved in the last week, you can then follow that up with any blockers or problems that the team is currently experiencing, and the potential solutions to it. It would be best if you can speak to the higher management team to understand what it is that they are looking for from the report. What will make their job easier? If anything else should be included that wasn't? Keep getting feedback and tweaking the template until they are happy with what they get out of the report. Regarding the macro/high-level approach - you dont need to include any specific code that was written. Higher management does not really care about that. They want to know the outcome. Also, do not list every single thing that was done - only the important wins and problems.
Weekly status reports for your internal team:
If you are writing this for your internal team - maybe a developer who is blocked by something, you should start by addressing the blocker. Instead of a macro view, get very specific with all the details. Your internal team wants to know more information regarding their specific problem and how to get past that, so the weekly activity report should focus on details - the code, the solution. Again, speak to the internal team and check if the report addresses all their concerns. Keep iterating until the internal team is happy with the weekly activity report.