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2.0 BELIEF

Curate, don’t automate

Data-driven reports are B.S.—We are 75% complete, 5/6 milestones completed, 18 tasks remaining.
Numbers only tell half the story. Here’s how we approach better status updates that people will actually read.

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2.0 RITUAL – CURATE, DON’T AUTOMATE

Write a weekly status update

Research shows that successful, healthy relationships communicate openly and frequently, and this holds true for teams, too.

By committing to a weekly status update, your entire team will benefit by being synchronized in communication cadence and format, and optimized for agility. This helps teams feel empowered to take risks with fast feedback loops, and course correct early and often.

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 that every related team starts their week with the context they need.

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Status report
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Status meeting
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Status report
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Status meeting
After diagram (full status amongst teams)
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PRACTICE with your team
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2.1 technique – CURATE, DON’T AUTOMATE
Measuring space with caption: less is more
Measuring space with caption: less is more

Character constrain your updates

Keep it short. Character constrain your updates, so key information is highlighted and not buried.

How to set up the technique

Step 1

Spend some time reviewing what the team has achieved throughout the week. Project owners might do this by reflecting on the teams backlog, shared calendars, common tools or chat or email conversations.

Step 2

For larger projects you may want to group the activity into common themes.

Step 3

Reflect on key outputs, decisions, outcomes or milestones you think it’s important for project followers to know about.

Step 4

“Use a character counter tool to draft an update. We recommend (and research shows), 280 characters is the sweet spot for optimal reader consumption. Be sure to use screenshots, videos, emojis and images to liven up your update and compensate for the limited characters!”

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2.2 TECHNIQUE – CURATE, DON’T AUTOMATE
Pointing at watch with caption: less meetings? I'm in
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Update async, spar in real time

With today’s collaboration tools (and highly skilled people using them) asynchronous (aka “async”) communications are often preferred over meetings as they allow for a more diverse set of personalities to consume and respond to the information comfortably and thoughtfully.

How to set up the technique

Step 1

Draft a list of the types of updates you should be sharing outside of your team (goal tracking, feature ideation, weekly status, team changes, budget management, etc)

Step 2

For each type of update add an “async” or “let’s meet” label. Use the following criteria to decide which label the info belongs to:

  • Characteristics of async updates
    • Summaries of info
    • Goal is shared understanding
    • Feedback is not urgent
    • Distributing new info
    • Ask for help
  • Characteristics of “let’s meet” updates
    • Requires input from 2+ people simultaneously
    • Making a high-impact decision
    • When complexity or unknowns are high
    • Requires divergent thinking
Step 3

For all updates (in both categories) define the cadence by which you will update stakeholders.

  • For async updates add the channel/location where the update will be made (presentation, wiki, etc)
  • For “let’s meet” updates assign a meeting owner to create and distribute a reoccurring calendar invite with a link to a re-usable agenda.
Step 4

Send your update summary by label, by cadence to your team first and then stakeholders and ask for feedback or challenges to proposed categorizations and cadences.

Step 5

Setup a rotating schedule of update ownership to ensure the team shares in communication responsibilities.

Anti-patterns

Do not assign the most junior person or admin role on your team to write all updates and manage all reoccurring meetings

2.3 TECHNIQUE – CURATE, DON’T AUTOMATE
Rainbow with caption: start with why
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Balance qualitative + quantitative

Numbers are great and all, but without some words (or even emojis) it’s hard to know what those numbers mean. Updates serve are an important mechanism for dependent teams and stakeholders to understand why things are progressing the way they are. Context (aka a mix of quant and qual) is key to help followers get the most value from updates.

How to set up the technique

Step 1

As you begin to write your weekly update, spend some time reviewing what the team has achieved throughout the week. Project owners might do this by often reflecting on the teams backlog, shared calendars, common tools or chat or email conversations.

Step 2

For larger projects you may want to group the activity into common themes and incorporate key updates from sub-projects.

Step 3

Reflect on key outputs, decisions, outcomes or milestones you think it’s important for project followers to know about.

Step 4

Craft an update that enables your followers to understand the most important progress, blockers or changes in project.

  • Examples of how to use quantitative data in updates:
    • Compare to other projects
    • Show trends
    • Quantify impact or investment
  • Examples of how to use qualitative data in updates:
    • Provide context/meaning to quantitative data
    • Connect the dots among pieces of information
Step 5

Identify opportunities to reduce the character count of your update with graphs, videos, images or emojis.

Step 6

Re-read your update before posting. If the take-aways are clear and concise, publish! If you can reduce content, edit and iterate until you have a summary you’re proud to share on behalf of your team.

Anti-patterns

  • Writing a change-log of every item that was completed.
  • Flagging all risks, issues or decisions - just focus on the ones which a project follower might be able to help with or might change a particular outcome.
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It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.

Clay Shirky

Vice Provost of Educational Technologies of New York University

Explore all the Loop techniques


1.0 Open up your work in progress


1.1   Create reference-able handles


1.2   Open up comments & questions (avoid 1:1 messages)


1.3   Distribute updates in channels where teams live


2.0 Curate, don't automate


2.1   Character constrain your updates


2.2   Update async, spar in real time


2.3   Balance qualitative + quantitative


3.0 Common vocabulary over common tooling


3.1   Define your project’s what, why & how


3.2   Agree on “what is a project” and phases


3.3   Define your status markers (On Track (green), At Risk (yellow), Off Track (red))


4.0 Show that you are paying attention


4.1   Level your feedback in line with phase/fidelity


4.2   Create a read receipts mechanism


4.3   Follow relevant projects & celebrate wins together