Guides

How to write a weekly status update (with a template)

Updated October 21, 2026

Short answer: Use three short sections a reader can skim in thirty seconds: what you finished, what's next, and where you need help, each with names and dates. Put anything that changes someone else's plans first, write outcomes rather than activity, and send it at the same time every week.

A weekly update does two jobs: it tells people what changed, and it asks for what you need. Most updates fail at both by being a diary of the week. The reader wants to know whether anything affects them, and they decide that in the first few lines.

The template

What makes one worth reading

• Lead with what changes someone else's plans: a slipped date, a decision, a blocker.
• Write outcomes, not activity. “Sent the checklist” says more than “worked on onboarding”.
• Name people and dates. “Legal, by Wednesday” gets an answer; “waiting on legal” doesn't.
• Every ask says who, what and by when, so it can be answered in one reply.
• Keep it short, and link to the detail instead of pasting it.

Where the material comes from

The hard part isn't writing; it's remembering what you finished. Your sent mail, the things you closed, your calendar and your meeting notes hold most of it. Look back through them on Friday afternoon, or keep a running list of what you finished as the week goes, and the update writes itself in five minutes.

When the week was quiet

Send it anyway, in one line: “Quiet week: still on the roadmap draft, review moves to next Friday.” Skipping a week makes the next update longer and the silence in between harder to read.