No BS project comms for teams of teams
We’re all wasting time talking about work when we could be working. That’s because there’s no consistent, easy way to communicate across teams. Until now.
In teamwork, silence isn't golden, it's deadly.
Mark Sanborn
Leadership Speaker & Best Selling Author
We’ve created a system of communication for modern work.
For all the effort that has gone into creating Agile rituals for intra-team comms and Design thinking rituals for customer comms, it’s shocking how little thought has gone into designing a better system of communication across teams. Team-to-team communication is not taught, not valued and often gets a bad rap as “status reporting.” Welcome to the new world of status reporting that looks and feels nothing like a color-coded, cluster of a spreadsheet. The Loop is for forward-thinking teams who are tired of getting blindsided by feedback the day before their deadline. It’s for teams who have the courage to be vulnerable. Teams who are willing to admit what they don’t know and get started anyways. And it’s for teams who believe that opening up their work, warts and all, will make them a stronger team, more reliable project partners and set a better example for effective communication across their organization.
INTRODUCING THE PRINCIPAL LOOP BELIEFS
Open up your work in progress
Avoid after-the-fact advice by sharing your work-in-progress for feedback early and often. By operating openly, you’ll avoid “unknown unknowns” before they become insurmountable roadblocks.
Curate, don’t automate
Information overload does not have to paralyze your project. Get and give just the right amount of data and details so your stakeholders stay in the loop and your work gets noticed.
Common vocabulary over common tooling
Whether we know it or not, every time we communicate we make comprehension and speed trade-offs. Guess what, we can do both if we all start speaking the same project language.
Show that you’re paying attention
We spend too much time on status reports for them not to be read. What might it look like to spend less time writing, reading and responding to updates?
START BY UNDERSTANDING YOUR PROBLEM TO FIND THE RIGHT SOLUTION
We spend too much time trying to predict and not enough time iterating
I spend too much time rewriting and reformatting updates
The quality and consistency of status updates is all over the place
103 hours of unnecessary meetings per person every year
From
(SYNC) Status report monologues make weekly meetings a waste of time
To
(ASYNC) Updates written and read asynchronously so you can repurpose or cancel meetings
1 IN 3 employees have considered leaving their jobs due to unplanned work
From
(IRREGULAR) waiting for updates
To
(IN RHYTHM) predictable operating rhythm
49% of projects finish later than the initial target date
From
(PLANNING) Invest in upfront planning so you can predict allthethings
To
(DOING) Do just enough planning to get started
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The Loop framework is composed of 8 beliefs, each with a corresponding ritual and techniques that will help you turn the philosophy into repeatable, scalable behaviors you can action with your team today. Get started by picking the belief that most resonates or maybe the one that most challenges you. Share it with your team, and use the techniques as a template for how you can make each belief your own. Once your team is practicing the belief confidently, invite a neighboring team to try your new ritual and see how far your success will spread.
Explore the rituals
1.0 – OPEN UP YOUR WORK IN PROGRESS · RITUAL
Make your updates followable
Most people feel more in tune with the goings on of strangers on social media than they do the projects happening in adjacent departments. By sharing our project updates as easily and delightfully as we share our life updates on social media, we can open up the early phases of our projects to get input from the right experts at the right time.
1.1 – Create reference-able handles
2.0 – CURATE, DON’T AUTOMATE · RITUAL
Write a weekly status update
Even if the world may not feel predictable, communication should be. Eliminate one stressor of inter-team relationships by committing to writing updates every Friday so every related team starts their week with the context they need.
3.0 – COMMON VOCAB OVER COMMON TOOLING · RITUAL
Answer the same foundational questions for all projects
Empowering teams requires the right balance of structure and freedom. Giving teams a template for communicating project status outwardly will enable them to communicate effectively across teams without getting in the way of optimizing their intra-team workflow to meet their individual needs.
3.1 – Define what, why and how
4.0 – SHOW THAT YOU’RE PAYING ATTENTION · RITUAL
Acknowlege weekly updates
Why wait to share updates and give feedback until you calendar tetris allows you to schedule a meeting? We find the best feedback loops are fast, efficient and frequent. This means updates are brief and consistent and so is the feedback.
5.0 – AIM FOR AN OUTCOME
COMING SOON
6.0 – CHANGE DATES AND CHANGE OFTEN
COMING SOON
7.0 – WORK OWNERS OWN COMMS
COMING SOON
8.0 – CELEBRATE OFTEN
COMING SOON
FAQs
Do I have to follow every belief for my team to benefit?
How does this framework work with other frameworks like OKR and Agile?
Do I need to have a special tool to use this framework?
How do we prevent a culture of sugarcoating?
Why do I have to communicate project updates, can’t my work speak for itself?
Who created this framework?