In general, daily updates are a bit excessive because many initiatives take multiple days to make progress on. Here’s why so many CEO’s value written updates:
1. Meetings should always be discussion, never updates
A good executive team meeting should never involve sharing status reports. Instead, status updates should be done in writing in advance so the meeting can be focused on strategic discussion and problem solving.
2. Getting status in writing drives accountability
Consider the mantra “if it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen.” Getting top objectives and concerns in writing makes everyone accountable for the results. If status is shared verbally in a meeting, it’s easy to have initiatives get lost in the shuffle and lack follow up to ensure they got done. Getting in writing can be as simple as filling out a quick form once per week:
3. A week is a good time frame to make solid progress
While many tasks take far longer than 1 day, many can see reasonable progress with in a week. If sharing updates becomes a burden or goes outside the standard tools the team uses, it is far less likely to get done. Asking for daily updates can feel like micromanagement, where weekly updates are valuable for effective team alignment and transparency.
