The Importance of Sharing Weekly Updates
By Crystal Housewright
The great enemy of communication … is the illusion of it. — William H. Whyte
As a software engineering manager at ITHAKA, I spend a lot of my time participating in meetings, reading messages, and listening to people in 1:1s. While all of this information gathering is helpful, I also know that people do their best work when they understand the context.
I’ve experimented with a few methods for effectively and efficiently sharing information, and have seen the value of sharing a weekly, written update with my team. This has become my go-to way of delivering consistent messaging to many people at once. It reminds me to watch for themes in team meetings, 1:1s, company announcements, and other communication channels. I think of myself as a human multiplexer that combines data from multiple sources and transmits it over a single shared medium, increasing efficiency while decreasing the total cost of communication.
People do their best work when they understand the context. — Crystal Housewright, ITHAKA software engineer
Why should you share weekly updates?
Regular updates give people a predictable way to gain broader context. Adopting a weekly cadence also helps team members develop a sense of routine and structure. This predictability allows them to trust that information will be shared in a timely manner, fostering a more organized and efficient work environment. It builds connections between teams, leadership, and individual contributors.
Weekly updates are helpful even if everyone doesn’t read every update. Because information is added to the same shared document each week, it becomes a searchable events log.
What do you share each week?
I use these updates to do a few simple things:
- Celebrate wins
- Clarify organizational messages
- Call attention to things that may affect my team members
- Announce upcoming changes
- Solicit feedback
- Share interesting or relevant resources
Who should see team updates?
I write my updates for the team members who report to me, but I grant everyone at ITHAKA the ability to view, share, and comment. This allows any comments and responses to become part of the running log of events.
How do I start weekly updates?
I invite you to create your own weekly updates document that you share with your team. We use Google Docs, but use whatever works best for your team and environment. Let your team know when you’ve made updates each week and provide a brief summary. Weekly entries should be dated and should include the most relevant information you’ve heard about that week. Provide enough information to give your teams the context they need.
Finally, ask for feedback so you can iterate and tailor your approach to the needs of your team. At first this may feel awkward, but you’ll get better with practice.
If it helps, please feel free to start by making a copy of my weekly updates sample (Google Doc).
Can’t I just have a meeting?
Yes, you could have a meeting, and some topics do need face-to-face time. But people absorb information at different rates. It’s important to consider the diverse needs of a team. Some people may struggle with information overload in meetings, making it challenging to fully grasp the content. By sharing written updates, we give everyone the opportunity to catch up and process at the pace and time that works best for them.
💡 Writer’s tip: If you’re like me, and your natural writing style veers toward a stream of consciousness, then something like the Hemingway Editor may help you herd your words and make your weekly updates easier to read.
Summary
It has been about a year since I started writing my weekly updates at ITHAKA, and they have had a positive impact on me and my team. I’ve evolved the format over time. Early versions were a series of paragraphs of indeterminate length.
Since then, I’ve settled on the following format:
- A one-page layout with headings for each topic
- Bookmarks that thread entries together if a topic spans multiple weeks
- Links out to additional information
- Invitations for readers to comment on certain topics
- An “ASK” or “KNOW” label on each entry that helps readers quickly identify the actionable information (the “ASKS”) and the informational updates (the “KNOWS” or FYIs). I also use a “CELEBRATE” label for recognizing achievements and milestones.
tl;dr
As a manager, I find it’s important that my team members feel a sense of accomplishment at the week’s end. Sending my weekly updates not only gives me that feeling but also helps me facilitate a sense of shared achievement among my team members. Writing my weekly updates helps me tangibly extract value from my time and share that value with my team. The information also equips my team with the knowledge and context to understand the impact of their contributions.
Weekly updates are a simple yet powerful management tool. As Andrew Grove shares in High Output Management, managers should leverage their time by spending small amounts on things that have a large impact. Gathering and conveying information is one way to accomplish this goal.
If you’re trying to figure out how to share information that your team needs and you want to do it efficiently and effectively, give weekly updates a try.
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