# The weekly written status and async habits > A five-line status that says where the project really is, honest colours with a forecast and a reason, decisions in writing, and habits for a remote team that works through outages and alerts. - Course: [Project Management Without the Bureaucracy: Run One Project from Brief to Closure](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy.md) - Module: People and stakeholders - Lesson 19/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/the-weekly-written-status ## "All green" **Alex Tutor:** Wednesday, 23 December, status day. The team is spread out: Vira works from Lviv, two tutor candidates live in Poland, and Kyiv has scheduled power cuts. Nobody wants another call. Danylo drafted this week's status. > **Danylo's draft** > > **Physics launch: status. Green** > > Great progress this week! The review is done, demo lessons are going well and the team is working hard. No blockers. Merry holidays! **Leo:** Nice to read. But I can't tell if we open on 1 February. **Danylo:** It's all true, though. **Alex Tutor:** True and useless. A status is for the reader to decide something. Leo needs the forecast against the date, Hanna the money, Roman what lands on him next. > **Exercise:** The facts this week: 3 of the 11 buffer days are used, 8 of 12 tutor candidates have been seen and 6 passed, and the February slots of four tutors are still unconfirmed. Leo, the sponsor, needs to know whether physics opens on 1 February. What is wrong with Danylo's draft? Choose all that apply. ## Five lines **Alex Tutor:** A weekly status needs five lines. Where we are against the plan, with the forecast and the buffer. What changed since last week. The top risks. Decisions needed, from whom, by when. Next week. **Sofia:** And the facts this week: the draft took 5 days instead of 4, the review 7 instead of 6, and the first candidates could come only a day after it. So 3 of the 11 buffer days are used. **Vira:** Demo lessons started on 17 December: 8 of 12 candidates seen, 6 passed. Four left, and we need at least two of them. **Alex Tutor:** Then compare: about half of the chain's planned days are done and about a quarter of the buffer is used. The forecast holds, so green is honest, with that reason next to it. > **Exercise:** Put the five lines of the weekly status in order. **Alex Tutor:** So what colour is this week, and why? > **Exercise:** On 23 December about half of the chain's planned days are done and 3 of the 11 buffer days are used. What should the status say? ## Honest colours **Danylo:** So when is it amber? Everyone avoids amber. It looks like failure. **Alex Tutor:** Agree the meaning once, in writing. Green: the forecast holds without help. Amber: it holds only if a named action or decision happens. Red: it doesn't hold without changing the date, scope or money. **Hanna:** And a colour without a reason means nothing to me. A green test that cost 52,000 for 34,000 of work isn't green. **Alex Tutor:** Right. Amber early is a gift to the sponsor: time to act. A status that stays green until it turns red overnight is the one that destroys trust. > **Exercise:** Imagine another week: two of the five chain tasks are done (about 40 % of the planned days), and 6 of the 11 buffer days are used. The date still fits if the demo lessons go as planned. Which colour is honest? **Alex Tutor:** Danylo still thinks amber looks like failure. True or false? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** reporting amber early is a sign that the lead has lost control of the project. ## Async by default **Vira:** And when Kyiv has no power on status day? **Alex Tutor:** Agree the habits before you need them. The status lives in one shared document, due by 18:00 Kyiv time on Wednesday. Whoever loses power posts when it's back. Decisions go in writing, with a reply-by time. **Danylo:** Live lessons are the harder part. Last month an air-raid alert stopped two English lessons halfway. **Alex Tutor:** Then it's a planning input, not an exception. A demo lesson cut by an alert gets a new slot and isn't scored as failed. The dry run checks how a paused lesson is rescheduled. **Leo:** And when I agree to something in a call? **Alex Tutor:** It isn't decided until it's written down: one line with the date, the decision, who made it and why. The team in Lviv and Poland weren't on the call. > **Exercise:** Match each situation to the habit that handles it. **Alex Tutor:** Leo needs to decide before the break. How do you ask without a call? > **Exercise:** Leo, the sponsor, must decide whether marketing can publish "classes from 1 February" before the New Year break. How should the status ask for it? **Alex Tutor:** Last: which first line would you put at the top? > **Exercise:** Leo reads only the first line of the 23 December status before the break. Which first line serves him best? ## Your turn: the status for 23 December **Leo:** Before the New Year break I need to know two things: do we still open on 1 February, and can marketing publish the date on the landing page? **Vira:** Put in the tutor slots. Four of the six who passed teach at schools, and their timetables come out in early January. **Alex Tutor:** Five lines, one colour with its reason, and one decision for Leo with a date. **Sofia:** Forecast first, then what changed, risks, the decision and next week. > **Exercise:** Write the five-line status for Wednesday, 23 December. Facts: draft done in 5 days (planned 4), review final on 15 December in 7 days (planned 6); demo lessons started 17 December, a day after the review, because the first candidates could only come then; so 3 of the 11 buffer days are used; 8 of 12 candidates seen, 6 passed; four of the six teach at schools and can confirm February slots only in early January; Leo wants to know whether marketing can publish "classes from 1 February". > **Key points** > > - A **project status report** is written for the reader to decide something: five lines on the plan and forecast, changes, risks, decisions needed and next week. > - A colour means something only with a forecast and a reason. Agree the meanings once: green holds alone, amber holds if a named action happens, red doesn't hold without changing date, scope or money. > - Amber early gives the sponsor time; green until it turns red overnight destroys trust. > - Async by default: one shared document, deadlines that survive outages, decisions written down with date, who and why. > - Outages and air-raid alerts are planning inputs: an interrupted lesson gets a new slot. **Alex Tutor:** Next, the case: Leo changes priorities every week, and you have to keep the project steady without fighting him. - Previous lesson: [The stakeholder map and influence without authority](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/stakeholder-map.md) - Next lesson: [Case: the sponsor changes priorities every week](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/sponsor-changes-priorities-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.