Reduce the time wasted in weekly status update meetings with this easy to implement process.
If you could make two hours of meetings disappear from your work calendar every week, how would you feel?
I can tell you with 100% certainty that I felt relief. That’s because this happened to me, and to every member of my team. We saved an average of 2 hours per week when we tried a new way of delivering status updates.
For more than fifteen years I managed projects across four continents and five industries. In that time I learned the one common experience all project managers share is too much time spent in status update meetings.
And it isn’t just the project managers that suffer. Everyone invited to those status meetings suffers too. Stakeholders, experts, and the unfortunate people added to the meeting “just in case”.
75 Percent of status meeting time is wasted
A typical status update meeting involved a group of people taking turns to describe the work they – or their team – have done since the last meeting.
The information shared is not relevant for three-quarters of the people in the room. Plus, most of what’s said could be easily found if people read the reports. (that’s a topic for another day!)
Gaargh! Writing about this is giving me flashbacks!
The answer isn’t to cancel every status meetings. As nice as that would feel, it simply isn’t practical. Work progresses more smoothly when people have a regular opportunity to gather and discuss important topics.
The solution to bad status meetings is to change what goes into them.
How to prepare a concise, valuable status update
Great status updates don’t just happen. They require thoughtful preparation and intentional delivery. When done well, great status updates:
✅ Save time for everyone.
✅ Ensure clarity.
✅ Make discussions more productive.
The process my team and I created focused the discussion on topics that impacted the most people, in the greatest way.
Here’s a status update template showing the simple things we did that make every status update valuable to the audience in the room.
And, as it helps to see an example, here is an update created using the format above.
𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁
🔍 Clearer updates
😀 Happier stakeholders
⌛ A lot of time back in your week.
__________________________________________
Want your team to give better updates?
Contact me to find out the best training options for your team.