Create a weekly ritual so that status reporting is as easy as checking your inbox in the morning
Healthy teams communicate frequently and consistently. By committing to just one weekly update on your projects, networks of teams benefit by being on a predictable, synchronised operating rhythm.
Stakeholders have confidence on when to expect updates and faith that information is fresh and reliable. Project teams are less distracted by those pesky pings during the week asking where their work’s at. This helps teams stay focused and move with agility, so they can course correct early and often.
How?
An easy way to build this weekly ritual is by blocking out time in your calendar at the start and end of your week, to share and catch up on updates. Creating that intentional space to stay in the loop across teams helps you start the week with the best foot forward and saves you time during the week.
In Atlas, we want to assist you to get into a flow state at the start and end of each week, by providing a focused mode where you can write and read numerous updates.
Friday: Smash through updates in writing mode
Friday afternoon…the week’s winding down…when is there a better time to reflect on what you’ve achieved during the week and let others know? Atlas sends project owners a reminder on Friday to share their updates.
Writing mode gives Atlas users a single, focused place to write their updates. No distractions, no jumping between tabs needed. If you have projects awaiting updates, you can launch writing mode from either the Create dropdown or from the list of Your Projects on the home tab. It'll list all of the projects and goals that you are the owner of that have updates due.
Suggested tip: In Atlassian, project owners are assigned as the person closest to the direct work, as they have the most context. This also helps to distribute the number of updates that need to be written by each project owner.
Monday: Get your quick dose of context to kick off your week in reading mode
Making it a habit to check your Atlas feed Monday morning is a game-changer. Launch reading mode from the Atlas feed using the “R” key or hit Catch up to refresh your memory on what happened last week and determine your priorities for the next week. Consuming bite-sized updates becomes as easy as scrolling through your morning tweets or getting your email to inbox zero (ok, maybe only us Type A personalities can relate to this second one 😅).
Remember that communication is a two-way street, where it’s just as important to leave a reaction or a “Go team!” so your project owners feel acknowledged, as it is to step in and provide feedback or support for the projects that need closer attention.
And if you prefer consuming in other ways, you can do that too via our Monday digest email, Slack or MS Team integrations!
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 related teams come in on Monday with the context they need. You in?
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Rachel Lin
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