Workflow
A weekly status report from Jira or Linear, every Friday
Cedric reads Jira or Linear every Friday and writes the weekly status report: done, in progress, blocked, dates that moved. A template inside.
Benjamin Ben HattarThe weekly status report is for people who don't open the tracker: the CEO, the sales lead, the client. Everything in it is already in Jira or Linear. Someone still spends Friday afternoon reading boards and turning ticket titles into sentences.
Cedric can do that reading. Every Friday at 15:00 he goes through the project in Jira or Linear and drafts the report in plain words. He posts it to your channel for a check, and on your yes it goes to the people who need it.
- The report comes from the tracker, so it says what the tickets say, slips included.
- It is written for readers outside engineering. Ticket keys stay in, jargon stays out.
- A date that moved is listed as moved, with the old date and the new one.
- You read the draft first. It reaches #leadership only on your yes.
Friday, 15:00
The week, before anyone asks.
CedricAPP9:14 AM
Atlas, week 43. At risk. Done: SSO for admins and the new invoice screen, 9 issues. In progress: the CSV export, 5 issues. Blocked: ATL-212 waits on the Brightline API keys since Monday. Moved: the export beta's due date changed on Wednesday, from 24 to 31 October, and 4 of its 7 issues haven't started. Next week: the export, and the keys from Brightline.
A status report template
Six parts, in this order. The reader can stop after the first line and still know how the project is going.
Status. One line: on track, at risk or late. Say why if it isn't on track.
Done this week. What shipped, in words a customer would recognise, with the issue count.
In progress. What the team is on now and roughly how far along it is.
Blocked. Each blocker, how long it has been stuck, and who can clear it.
Dates that moved. The old date, the new date, and the reason. Leave this out and the slip turns up in the retro instead.
Next week. The two or three things the team will finish.
Set it up
- 01
Add Cedric to Slack
Install him in your workspace and invite him to the channel where you'll review the draft, #eng-leads here. You start with 100,000 free credits, about $50 of work, and no card.
- 02
- 03
Ask for one report by hand
"Write this week's status report for Atlas from Jira: status, done, in progress, blocked, dates that moved, next week." Check it against the board once before you schedule it.
- 04
Put it on Friday
"Every Friday at 15:00, write the Atlas status report the same way and post it here. On my yes, post it in #leadership."
He confirms what he understood before he creates the schedule. Change the time or the format in the same reply.
Before you rely on it
It is as current as the tracker. An issue nobody moved still reads as not started. If the board is stale, fix that first, or the report will be wrong on time every Friday.
He reports the slip, you decide what drops. He can show that the export won't make its date. Cutting scope or moving the date is the team's call.
FAQ
An overall status, what was done, what is in progress, what is blocked, which dates moved, and what comes next week. Lead with the status line so a busy reader can stop there.
Not for the report. He only reads. If you ask him to move or file an issue while you're at it, that change is proposed first and saved on your yes.
Yes. Name them in the routine. A very broad search across many Jira projects is paged, so a large report takes a little longer to come back.
Yes. A standup is for the team, every morning. This is for the people around the team, once a week. AI project management covers both, and weekly reports covers the numbers from billing and the CRM.
Free to start, no card.