The weekly client update is the job everyone means to do on Friday and writes on Monday morning. Most of what goes into it already exists: the call notes, what shipped, what is waiting on the client.
What the update needs
- What shipped since the last one, with links.
- What is next, with dates.
- What needs the client's answer, so nothing waits on them by accident.
Keep it short. A client reads the first three lines.
Step by step
- Collect the week's inputs. The transcript or notes from your client call, and what shipped. If your call tool exports a transcript, download it; if not, paste your notes.
- Write down the format once. Headings, length, tone and what never to say. In Afarin this goes in the client's project Wiki, so every week starts from it.
- Draft from the inputs, not from memory. Attach the transcript to the week's card. Afarin reads it with the cards that shipped since the last update and the client's Wiki, and drafts the update as a document on the card.
- Review the handoff. Check every shipped item against its card, the dates against your calendar, and the questions for the client. The handoff lists what Afarin was unsure of first.
- Send it yourself. The draft is a draft. You send it, from your own email.
Make it weekly without remembering
Set a routine on the client's project: every week, at the time you choose, it starts the update card and assigns it to Afarin, with a spend cap. Attach that week's transcript when you have it; the draft waits in review either way.
What it does not do
Calls and meetings held in Afarin keep their transcript and notes in the chat. There is no link to an outside call recorder yet, so a transcript from elsewhere comes in as a file or pasted text. And the draft waits for you: it reaches the client only when you send it, unless you have given Afarin write access to your email.