Sending my manager weekly updates have become a key part of how I stay effective. There are three main reasons I do this:
First, it provides visibility. My manager can quickly see what I’m up to in a given week and means we spend less time on status updates during 1-on-1s and more time on strategic issues.
Second, it tracks how productive (or unproductive) I’ve been. Each week, I log the main pieces of work and outcomes. This includes blockers, bottlenecks, and any issues in general. Over time, patterns emerge on what’s slowing me down most.
Third, it earns trust. This could also be called managing up, but by sharing what I’m working on, I build confidence that I’m focused on the right things. It also opens the door for feedback before problems arise.
The format I use is simple and consistent. Each week, I answer four questions:
What I'm working on this week?
What I'm not working on this week?
What am I thinking about long term?
Questions for {Manager Name}
Here is a hypothetical update from someone in a senior IC role:
What I'm working on this week?
- Progressing improvements to our alerting pipeline and validating whether the current routing rules are behaving as expected
- Preparing material for an internal knowledge-share session on feature rollout safety
- Reviewing a batch of maintenance requests and picking up a handful to move forward
- Running a lightweight experiment with a new monitoring tool to see if it's worth pursuing further
What I'm not working on this week?
– No items explicitly parked - everything is moving as expected for now
What am I thinking about long term?
– A more consolidated approach to backend development and service ownership
– Potentially trialling a monorepo for new service work to simplify patterns, tooling, and CI/CD
– If conversations this week go well, I may spin up a small proof of concept to show what works and what doesn't
Questions for my manager:
– How far along are we with improving test coverage visibility?
– Is there anything I can take on to help accelerate it?
Over time, these updates become a record of progress and challenges. They help me reflect on where my time goes and whether I’m working on the right things. They also make it easier for my manager to advocate for me when needed since they have a clear view of my contributions.
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