How to run a weekly update squad

A weekly-update mission runs as a closed loop on the Chief of Staff Squad. You draw the path in the mission goals: who the note is for, which files count as what happened, and what must not be in it. The Mission Commander works inside that path and assigns the note to Aide. Steering is the approval step. Aide does not send the update.

The squad you import

The template is the Chief of Staff Squad, on /squads. Aide, Chief of Staff, writes the weekly update to leadership from what actually happened, and keeps the list of decisions waiting on you and the commitments you made.

Digest and Prep get cards only if the goals include inbox triage or a meeting brief. A weekly status report compiled from team notes, with progress, risks, and asks, is Tally, on the Operations Squad. This mission is the leadership note, not that ops report. The template has no required connection.

You do this in the xSquads desktop app, on a folder of your own files. Mac now, with Windows coming soon. The product page is xSquads for Work.

How the mission runs

Step 1. Import the Chief of Staff Squad

Open the squad templates and import the Chief of Staff Squad onto the mission. Keep Aide. Remove Digest and Prep if this mission is only the weekly update and the decision list.

Step 2. Leave the connector list empty

This template has no required connection. Do not connect treg or Vapi. Put the week's notes, the decisions, and the commitments in the mission folder. Aide writes from those files.

Step 3. Create the mission and set the goals

Create the mission and write the goals in plain language. Those goals are the path: the reader, the files that count, and the topics that are out. Point the mission at the local folder. The commander does not get to widen that path. Goals you can start from, as written on the squad page: write this week's update to leadership from what happened, and list the decisions waiting on me and the commitments I made.

Step 4. Let the Mission Commander assign the work

Save the mission. The Mission Commander creates tasks on the task board and assigns them only inside the goals you wrote. Aide takes the update and the decision list. Digest should not sort an inbox, and Prep should not write a meeting brief, unless those goals are present. The update has to match the notes. It does not add a win that is not in the folder.

Step 5. Add a task, steer, and approve before anyone receives it

Steering is the approval step. Add a task on the board, or correct the Mission Commander in the group chat, when a line overstates the week. A useful task to add yourself: delete the hiring line, it is not in the notes, and move the pricing decision onto the waiting list. Aide does not send the note. Start by approving the whole update.

How much to review

Start by approving everything. Autonomy is a dial, not a switch you flip on a Friday.

Always sign off the reader and the source notes yourself. Raise the dial only when updates stop adding events that were not in the folder. What to tell leadership, or anyone outside the company, stays with you. xSquads does not send the update.

What the goals have to name

The reader. Leadership is the squad-page starting point. Name a different reader in the goals if you need one, and still review before anyone outside the company sees it.
The files that count as what happened. If it is not in the folder, it is not in the note.
Decisions waiting, and commitments already made. Those are Aide's list, separate from the prose.
What is out: inbox sorting, meeting briefs, and the ops status report.
Sending stays with you.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who writes the weekly update?

Aide, on the Chief of Staff Squad. The squad-page mission is the update to leadership from what happened, plus the list of decisions and commitments.

Can I use the draft with investors?

You can edit it and send it yourself. The squad writes from your files. It does not have an investor-update agent, and it does not send the note.

Where do the facts come from?

The notes you put in the mission folder. The squad page says the update reflects what actually happened. A line that is not in those files goes back.

How is this different from the ops status report?

Tally, on the Operations Squad, compiles progress, risks, and asks from team notes, in the same format each week. Aide writes the leadership note. Different squad, different shape.

Does anyone send it?

You do, after Review. Aide drafts.