Introduction
We use project weeknotes to help us keep both people that are involved in our projects updated on our progress as well as share our work more widely on a regular basis with people that are less directly involved e.g. sponsors, directorate staff, Councillors, partners and suppliers. We also, where possible, share the weeknotes externally via our blog so that they are open to anyone that might have an interest in the work that we are doing.
Aim
Weeknotes are a good habit. They enable you to:
- Reflect on your work and build new connections to enable more people to understand what you are doing and how this links to their own area of work
- Work more openly and in doing so encourage others to share with you as well as feedback on what you’ve done
- Keep your sponsors updated on a regular basis outside of any formal reporting
- Highlight any issues, key learning and/or developments
- Let people know what you are working on next
How to write a good weeknote
- Make them personal by bringing in your reflections, personal thoughts, humour and candidness to make it a refreshing read. It’s that personal, honest touch that will help them be more engaging and appealing to your readers
- There’s no need to stick to one particular format or structure – write them in a style you like and feel free to vary it; there are no set rules and no set length
- A week note doesn’t mean it has to be published weekly and they are often done to coincide with completion of a fortnightly sprint for instance
- If there’s not much to say then a short weeknote is fine; it could even be a week in pictures – mixing up the content and presentation of this makes it all that more interesting
- Share out the responsibility of writing the project weeknotes amongst your team. Don’t make it feel or allow it to become a burden. Sharing the responsibility will encourage different styles and make the weeknotes more varied, providing a different perspective for your readers
- Don’t spend too much time on writing it – yes do check punctuation and spelling but don’t spend unnecessary time trying to make it perfect. Try and sandbox your time to help you do this and get in the habit of publishing it on a set day and while the week is fresh in your mind.
- Use images and quotes to bring it to life; sharing snippets from the user research for example is a great way to illustrate what you have been doing and share important feedback from your work
An example template
This is an example format that we have used. It’s also worth checking out the blog by Sam Villis on weeknote styles and some commonly used formats to get you started. It is very much down to your individual personal style and what works for you. You certainly shouldn’t be constrained by thinking that you need to stick to the same format.
Project Name:
Date:
Purpose: State the aim of the weeknotes e.g they are intended to update on progress and key achievements / developments.
Good things: Share some of the key highlights and achievements from the week (or period that you are writing about).
Learned things: Share any important discoveries. This may be highlights from user research or from the team retro or sprint planning that mat be impacting or shaping how things are being delivered.
Difficulties: Share any challenges or concerns that you have or that you have had to deal with and how you have overcome them.
What’s next: Share information about the next key tasks and activities that are coming up.
Contact: Share information about who’s working on the project and how people can get in touch with you.
Further reading
You can read some of the weeknotes that we have done on our blog: