Guide · Running projects
Send each active client a short email on the same day every week with four parts: what happened, what is next, what you are waiting on from them, and the next milestone date.
Keep one row per project in a sheet with a line of notes for the week, and write the email from that row. A person reads every update before it goes.
Columns: Project, Client name, Client email, Phase, This week's notes, Next steps, Waiting on client, Include this week (Yes or No).
Whoever runs each project writes one line of notes by a set time, for example Thursday end of day.
Use the four-part shape in the template. The writer on this page builds it from the same fields.
If a project has no news, set Include this week to No. Say in the next update that the project was quiet.
A person reads every update and sends it from their own mailbox. Nothing should send itself to a client.
A Friday trigger can create one draft per included project in the firm's mailbox, addressed to the client, ready to edit and send.
Free tool
Fill in the project row. It writes the weekly email for you to copy into your mail and read before sending.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent, saved or uploaded. Replace the values with yours.
Clients who hear nothing assume nothing is happening. Clients who hear from you on the same day every week stop asking "where are we?" between updates, because they know when the answer is coming. A fixed shape also makes the email fast to write and easy to read on a phone.
| Part | Good | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| This week | One or two plain sentences on what moved | Internal detail the client cannot act on |
| Next | What happens before the next update | Promises with dates you do not control |
| Waiting on you | One item, with the date you need it | A long list; pick the one that blocks progress |
| Next milestone | Name and date of the next visible step | Leaving it out when the date has moved; say so |
One row per active project keeps the work small. Whoever runs the project updates one line of notes by a fixed time. The update is then mostly copying. If you also keep a Tasks sheet, the client's open tasks give you the "waiting on you" line.
The Include this week column matters more than it looks. It makes leaving a project out a decision, not an oversight. A project with no news gets No, and the next update says it was a quiet week.
In Google Workspace, a weekly time-driven Apps Script trigger reads the sheet and creates one Gmail draft per included project, addressed to the client. In Microsoft 365, a scheduled Power Automate flow does the same in Outlook. In both, the system writes drafts and never sends. A person opens the drafts folder, edits, and sends from their own mailbox. Write down:
Use the same shape. Say what happened in one sentence, what you are doing about it, and what it changes. If it affects fee or schedule, call first, then confirm in writing and record it in the decision log.
On Thursday afternoon, each project lead adds a line to their projects' rows. On Friday morning the person who sends updates writes, or opens, one draft per project marked Yes, reads each one, fixes a date that moved, and sends them from their own mailbox before lunch. Two quiet projects are marked No and get a one-line mention the following week. The client who owes a signed fee letter sees it under "waiting on you" with a date, in the same place as last week.
One email shape for every project, and the sheet columns it is written from.
Download the templates as a plain text file, no signup needed.
When: Same day each week, for every active project with news
Subject: [Project name]: update for the week of [date]
Hi [Client first name], This week on [project name] ([phase]): [what happened] Next: [next steps] Waiting on you: [item and date needed, or "Nothing this week."] Next milestone: [milestone] on [date]. Any questions, reply to this email. Best, [Your name]
When: Paste as the first row of a new sheet
Project Client Name Client Email Phase This Week's Notes Next Steps Waiting On Client Include This Week Last Draft Created
Weekly suits most active projects, on a fixed day so the client knows when to expect it. Quiet phases can move to every two weeks; say so in the email.
What happened, what is next, what you need from the client and by when, and the next milestone date. Leave out internal detail the client does not need to act on.
No. Drafts are fine. Sending should stay with a person who reads each one, because a wrong date or an internal note in an automatic email is hard to take back.
Send it to the person who decides and copy anyone they ask you to include. A fixed list per project, kept in the sheet, stops updates reaching people who should not see them.
Whoever runs the project. One line is enough. If the notes are empty by the deadline, that project gets no draft that week.
Archon & Partners