Reports and quality
What to show at the Monday meeting
Three figures and a list of names. Everything else is surplus.
The temptation in a meeting is to show everything that was done. What works is the opposite: three figures that give context, and a list of concrete names something can be decided about today.
What to take
| What | What it is for in the meeting |
|---|---|
| How many cases closed this week | Sets the pace, without debate |
| How many have been stuck over a month | The only number demanding action |
| What expires in the coming weeks | Anticipates everyone's work, not just yours |
| The three or four names needing a decision | What will actually be discussed |
Important
The last row is the only indispensable one. A meeting where figures are shown and nothing is decided is a report read aloud; what justifies it is leaving with three decisions taken on concrete cases.
What not to take
Watch out
Be careful taking only what is going well. A meeting where there are never problems stops receiving information: people learn that difficult things are not raised there, and you hear about them when they can no longer be fixed.
How to prepare it in five minutes
With a saved view per figure and one for the list of names. If preparing the meeting takes half an hour every week, that is half a working day a year spent assembling something you could have ready.
Worth knowing
If management asks for a monthly report, produce it identically on the same day. A comparable report beats an exhaustive one, because it shows the trend without arguing about method.
›What if they ask for more detail?
Show it on the spot; what you should not do is bring everything just in case.
›Does it work for several teams?
Each with their own; merging everything dilutes the decisions.
›How often should the meeting be?
Weekly for operations, monthly or quarterly for figures.
A real case
The situation
A manager spends half an hour each Monday preparing a report nobody uses to decide.
What you do
- Keeps three saved views and one list of names
What you get
The meeting moves from reading figures to taking three decisions, and preparation drops to five minutes.
The situation
Monday's meeting starts with everyone giving their own version of how things are going.
What you do
- Opens the same view for everyone
- Starts with what has been stalled too long
- Leaves the meeting with an owner and a date per item
What you get
The meeting goes from forty minutes of catching up to fifteen of decisions.
The situation
Ten indicators are shown and nothing is decided.
What you do
- Shows the two or three that change decisions
What you get
The meeting produces agreements.
The situation
The figure shown does not match another department's.
What you do
- Checks the same source
What you get
The argument is about what to do rather than what is true.
The situation
Everything is reviewed and the urgent runs out of time.
What you do
- Starts with what is blocking somebody
What you get
What unblocks goes first.
The situation
What was agreed in the meeting is recorded nowhere.
What you do
- Records the agreements as tasks
What you get
The following Monday starts from there.
This article answers
- what do i take to the weekly meeting
- weekly documentation report
- reporting status to my manager
- summary for the management committee