A weekly operations review for a small agency
Review active enquiries, client commitments, blocked work and upcoming capacity once a week. Finish with a short list of decisions and actions, each with an owner and date. Update the shared records so the review changes the work.
Use the review to make decisions
A weekly operations review is a chance to look across the agency and decide where attention is needed. It should help you see commitments at risk, unanswered enquiries and work waiting on a decision. A tour of every task is rarely necessary.
For an agency of 3–15 people, start with a short shared agenda and the records you already use. Invite the people who can resolve the issues being discussed. Adjust the length and participants to the amount of work, rather than making the meeting a fixed reporting ritual.
Prepare the current picture
Before the review, ask work owners to update their current status, next action and any blocker. Read the actual client commitments and outstanding requests. Mark uncertainty openly so the meeting can resolve it.
- Active enquiries with no next action or an overdue follow-up.
- Client deliverables and decisions due before the next review.
- Tasks waiting on client input, internal approval or another supplier.
- Leave, existing commitments and other limits on available capacity.
- Changes to scope or timing that have not yet been agreed.
A suggested 30-minute agenda
| Time | Review | Decision to leave with |
|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | Enquiries and proposals | Who will act on each priority enquiry, and when. |
| 10 minutes | Client commitments and blockers | Which deadlines need intervention and who will resolve the dependency. |
| 10 minutes | Capacity and priorities | What the team will start, continue, move or pause. |
| 5 minutes | Actions and communication | Who updates the records and tells affected clients. |
The timings are a starting point, not a performance target. If one issue needs a longer discussion, make the immediate decision needed and take the detailed work into a smaller follow-up.
Ask the same useful questions
- What have we promised?
Start with commitments made to clients. Check the next deliverable and decision date against the current work, rather than relying on a general feeling that the project is on track.
- What is stopping progress?
Name the specific dependency. Replace “waiting on the client” with the file, answer or approval needed, the person who can provide it and the next contact date.
- What can we realistically take on?
Compare planned work with existing commitments and absences. If there is a conflict, decide what moves and who needs to know.
- What changes after this review?
Write the decision, owner and due date. Update the shared task or client record while the context is clear.
Separate activity from progress
“We sent the proposal” describes activity. “The prospect will review it on Wednesday and Maya will call on Thursday” describes an agreed next step. Both may be worth recording, but the second tells the team what to do next.
The same applies to delivery. A task can have many comments and still be blocked. Ask what must happen for the next milestone to become possible, and give that action an owner.
Example: resolve a deadline conflict
This is an illustrative example. Two client reviews are due on Friday, and the same designer is responsible for both. One client has not supplied the content needed to finish their review.
The review should produce a decision: the account lead will confirm the missing content date today, the delivery lead will reassess the Friday commitment, and the client will receive an update if the date changes. Simply marking the task overdue leaves the conflict unresolved.
Keep a small decision log
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Decision | Confirm whether the Friday review can proceed. |
| Owner | Account lead. |
| Due | Today, before the client update is sent. |
| Record to update | Client timeline and the review task. |
| Communication | Tell the client the confirmed next step. |
Use Stack as the shared working record
Stack brings inbox, calendar, tasks, contacts and client management into one workspace. Use the relevant records during the review so the decisions can stay with the work they affect. You do not need to copy the entire week into a separate slide deck.
At the next review, start with actions carried over from the last one. If an action repeatedly slips, ask whether it needs a different owner, a smaller next step or an explicit decision to stop. A useful review changes priorities and responsibilities; it does not just describe them.