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Weekly PPP

Progress, Plans, and Problems - a weekly status format for team leads to communicate team health.

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Weekly PPP (Progress, Plans, Problems) is a structured format for team leads to report their team's status during active waves. It provides leadership with a quick, consistent view of what's happening across teams.

What is PPP?

PPP is a simple framework for weekly updates:

Section What to Include Limit
Progress What we accomplished this week 5 items max
Plans What we're working on next week 5 items max
Problems Blockers, risks, or concerns 5 items max

The 5-item limit keeps updates focused and scannable.

Extended Fields

Beyond core PPP, team leads can also add:

Section Purpose
Questions Questions for leadership
Risks Potential future problems
Challenges Current team challenges

These extended fields have no item limit.

Who Uses PPP?

Team Leads

Team leads submit PPP updates for their teams each week during active waves.

What you can do:

  • Add, edit, and remove items in each section
  • Request a "boost" when your team needs help
  • View your team's historical submissions

Team Members

Team members can view their team's PPP but cannot edit it.

What you see:

  • Current week's Progress, Plans, and Problems
  • Boost request status
  • Read-only access to your team's updates

Administrators

Organization admins can view all teams' PPP submissions across the wave.

What you see:

  • Summary dashboard of all teams
  • Teams requesting boost (prioritized)
  • Teams with problems flagged
  • Historical data across weeks

Submitting PPP Updates

Accessing the Form

  1. Navigate to Waves in the main menu
  2. Select the active wave
  3. Click Weekly Status in the wave navigation
  4. Find your team and start adding items

Multi-Team Submission

If you lead multiple teams, you'll see team tabs at the top of the form:

[ Team Alpha ] [ Team Beta ] [ Team Gamma ]

Click each tab to switch between teams. Each team has its own separate status form.

Adding Items

  1. Click into the text field for the section (Progress, Plans, or Problems)
  2. Type your update
  3. Click Add or press Enter
  4. The item saves immediately

Editing Items

  1. Click the edit icon on any item
  2. Modify the text
  3. Click Save or press Enter
  4. Changes save immediately

Removing Items

  1. Click the delete icon on any item
  2. Confirm removal
  3. Item is removed immediately

Real-Time Collaboration

Multiple team leads can edit the same team's status simultaneously:

  • Changes sync in real-time across browsers
  • A presence indicator shows who else is editing
  • No conflicts - each item edit is independent

Week Calculation

PPP status is tied to your organization's week settings.

How Weeks Are Determined

Your organization configures:

  • Timezone (e.g., Eastern Time, Pacific Time)
  • Week Start Day (Saturday, Sunday, or Monday)

The system calculates the current week based on these settings and displays the week ending date (e.g., "Week ending January 18, 2025").

Week Ending Display

At the top of the status form, you'll see:

  • The current week ending date
  • A countdown timer showing time remaining to submit

The countdown updates in real-time and shows urgency as the deadline approaches.

Writing Good Updates

Progress - What we accomplished:

  • Be specific about deliverables
  • Reference objectives when relevant
  • Highlight wins worth celebrating

Example:

Shipped user authentication v2, reducing login errors by 40%

Plans - What we're working on:

  • Focus on the coming week
  • Connect to wave objectives
  • Be realistic about capacity

Example:

Complete API documentation and begin load testing

Problems - What's blocking us:

  • Be honest about risks
  • Explain impact if not resolved
  • Suggest what help you need

Example:

Waiting on legal review for data processing agreement - blocks EU launch

The Boost System

When your team needs help beyond what you can solve internally, request a boost:

  1. Toggle Request Boost in your team's status
  2. Enter a reason explaining what you need
  3. The request saves automatically
  4. Admins and other teams see your request highlighted

Boost requests are highlighted in the wave dashboard so leadership can triage quickly.

Boost Urgency

Admins see boost requests with urgency indicators:

  • New (yellow) - Requested within 24 hours
  • Urgent (red) - Pending more than 24 hours

Locking Behavior

When Status Locks

Weekly status can be locked after the week ends to preserve historical accuracy.

Status Can Edit?
Current week, unlocked Yes
Current week, locked No
Past weeks No (read-only)

Locked Status Display

When a status is locked:

  • A lock icon appears on the status
  • A "Read-only" badge is displayed
  • Edit buttons are disabled
  • An alert explains the status is locked

Wave-Locked Behavior

Status submission follows wave lifecycle:

Wave Status Can Submit?
Draft No
Scheduled No
Active Yes
Completed No (read-only)
Canceled No (read-only)

Admin Dashboard

Administrators see a comprehensive dashboard view.

Summary Cards

Four metrics at the top:

Card What It Shows
Total Teams Number of teams in the wave
Boost Requests Teams actively requesting help (red)
Teams with Issues Teams with problems listed (yellow)
On Track Teams with no issues (green)

Prioritized Sections

The dashboard groups teams by status:

  1. Boost Requests - Teams needing help (shown first)
  2. Teams with Issues - Teams reporting problems
  3. All Teams - Complete list in accordion view

Team Details

Click any team to expand and see:

  • All Progress, Plans, Problems items
  • Extended fields (Questions, Risks, Challenges)
  • Boost request reason (if applicable)
  • Last edited timestamp
  • Who last edited
  • Search by team name
  • Sort by:
    • Teams needing attention first
    • Alphabetically by team name
    • Most recently updated

Historical Navigation

Viewing Past Weeks

Admins can browse historical weekly statuses:

  1. Use the week dropdown to select a past week
  2. Or use Previous/Next arrows to navigate
  3. View statuses as they were submitted that week

Week Selection

The dropdown shows all weeks within the wave period, formatted as:

  • "Week ending Jan 18, 2025"
  • "Week ending Jan 11, 2025"
  • etc.

Historical Data Preservation

Past week statuses are preserved exactly as submitted:

  • No edits allowed to historical data
  • Maintains audit trail integrity
  • Shows who edited and when

Edit History

Every change to weekly status is tracked:

  • Who made the edit (membership ID)
  • When the edit occurred (timestamp)
  • What fields changed

This history is preserved for compliance and audit purposes but maintains psychological safety through anonymous activity logging.

PPP vs. Pulse Check

PPP and Pulse Check are complementary but different:

PPP Pulse Check
Qualitative updates Quantitative rating
Team lead submits All team members vote
Free-form text Red/Amber/Green status
One per team per week One per person per objective
Visible to whole org Anonymous to managers

Use both: Sentiment tells you how the team feels about progress. PPP tells you what specifically is happening.

Best Practices

For Team Leads

  • Be consistent - Submit every week, even when things are routine
  • Be concise - 1-2 sentences per item is enough
  • Be honest - Problems are opportunities for help, not failures
  • Update early - Don't wait until the deadline
  • Use all sections - Even "no problems" is valuable information

For Administrators

  • Read regularly - PPP loses value if no one reads it
  • Follow up on problems - Teams should see action from their flags
  • Respond to boosts - Address boost requests within 48 hours
  • Celebrate progress - Acknowledge wins publicly
  • Don't punish honesty - Teams that hide problems are more dangerous

For Organizations

  • Establish norms - Define what "good" PPP looks like
  • Keep it lightweight - PPP should take 5-10 minutes max
  • Use the data - Reference PPP in leadership meetings
  • Close the loop - Share how PPP influenced decisions

Timing and Cadence

When to submit:

  • PPP is expected weekly during active waves
  • Submit before your organization's week end day
  • Updates can be edited until the status is locked

Recommended timing:

  • Submit by Friday afternoon (or your week's final day)
  • Allow time for leadership to review before the new week
  • Update throughout the week as things happen

Related documentation: