Never mess up a status report again
-- What's happening with our Versalife problem?
-- I'm all over it.
-- Yeah, "all over it" means you don't have d*$&. Next time I see you, have something. (Suits, my favorite TV show)
I've been there so many times.
Got pulled down the rabbit hole of the code base and have nothing to show for a day's work.
Or desperately needing help but not knowing where to get it from.
On top of that the fear of being judged for while others are "killing it".
On the other hand, everything runs on schedule, but your effort and hard work go unnoticed.
So let's talk about status reports today.
Be it during the daily standup, in a weekly project update or another setup.
Here's an alternative structure to long emails, slack threads or absense of any communication at all.
SON:
- What's the Status
- What are/were the Obstacles
- What are you going to do Next
S - Status: Start with the bottom line
There's the Minto Pyramid Principle method for writing and presenting ideas.
Skip the book for now, just do that:
Start with the bottom line, then give additional points supporting the bottom line.
- The project is delayed
- The bug is fixed
- Tests keep failing...
Why?
You are in the trenches and know every single detail of your projects.
Others don't. And they don't care.
So while reading your long paragraphs about what was done, whom you spoke to etc, they will wonder where you're going.
Make it easy for everyone to understand.
If they want to read further, they can. If not, they already know the bottom line.
Bonus: Add the status to the subject line if you're sending out an email. Sth like "XYZ Bug Status: Fixed" or "ABC Project Status: Delayed ~2 Weeks"
O - Obstacles along the way
After you stated the bottom line, you need to go into some details.
There are various reasons for that.
If everything is good|on time|as expected, you might want to provide some details of what it took to get the job done.
No one really sees everything you're doing, so this is a good opportunity to show your work and what went into delivering your project. You might want to include some failed experiments along the way as well.
If something is wrong|not on time|not as expected, you want to exactly describe the obstacles. Show that you know what you're talking about and take ownership of seeing things to completion.
N - Next steps
In this section, you summarize the next action items.
Not everything might be on you, but it's on you to make sure things happen.
Feel free to use the "Who does what by when?" model to keep yourself and others accountable for the success of you the project.
That's it for today