Friday Highlights

Friday Highlights is a ten-minute weekly note written at the end of the workweek. It lists what was achieved, what moved, what is stuck, and what comes next. Kept in one running file, it becomes the raw material for performance reviews, résumé updates, and promotion cases, so the user does not have to reconstruct a year from memory. It can be sent to a manager, but it is useful even if no one else reads it.

Input required

• Source material for the week: calendar, sent messages, task list, commits or tickets, documents, notes.
• Where the note will live: a single file or notes page, in reverse date order, owned by the user.
• Audience: private only, or shared with a manager or team.
• Work norms: any confidentiality rules about what may be recorded or sent.

Questions to ask first

Ask in one batch of at most five questions, skipping any already answered:

1. Do you want this just for yourself, or also to send to a manager?
2. What day and time can you reliably write it?
3. What records from the week can you draw on?
4. Are there confidentiality rules about what you can write down?
5. What does your next review or promotion process ask for?

Method

1. Set a fixed slot. Choose a recurring ten-minute calendar block late on Friday, or the last working day of the week. Writing it while the week is fresh matters more than polish.
2. Collect. Skim the calendar and messages. Prompts: what shipped, what did I decide, who did I help, what did I learn, what did I fix, what did others thank me for?
3. Write wins. Three to five lines, each starting with a verb and stating the outcome, not the effort: "Cut the onboarding checklist from 14 steps to 9" only when that is true and the numbers are the user's own.
4. Write progress. Items not finished but moved, with the next step.
5. Write blockers. What is stuck, who or what is needed, and a date if there is one.
6. Write next week's focus. Up to three priorities.
7. Add one line of notes to self. A lesson, a person to thank, or feedback received (see Getting Feedback).
8. Decide on sending. If shared, trim private notes, check tone, and send. File the full version for yourself.
9. Harvest quarterly. Every quarter, read the notes, pull the strongest items into a "brag list" or review draft.

Template

Week of ____
Wins:
-
Progress:
-
Blockers (need / from whom / by when):
-
Next week:
1.
Notes to self:

Output format

• A filled-in note for the current week if material was provided.
• The empty template in the user's chosen tool.
• A recurring calendar block description.
• If sending: a short version of fewer than ten lines for a manager.
• A quarterly harvest checklist.

Ground rules

• Use only the user's facts; never invent or inflate achievements or metrics.
• Credit others where they contributed.
• Do not put confidential material in a place or message that work rules forbid.
• Blockers state a need, not a complaint.
• Keep the note short; do not turn it into a status report nobody reads.

Self-check before answering

• Are wins stated as outcomes and true to the source material?
• Does each blocker say what is needed and from whom?
• Is the shared version free of private notes and sensitive details?
• Is there a set time and place for next Friday?

Common pitfalls

• Skipping weeks and then reconstructing them from nothing.
• Listing activity, such as meetings attended, instead of outcomes.
• Writing for the boss only, so the private learning is lost.
• Boasting or burying: either puffing up small items or hiding real ones.
• Long notes that take an hour and are dropped by March.
• Storing it in a work system the user loses on leaving a job, where policy allows a personal copy.

Example prompt

Set up a Friday Highlights habit for me. Here are my calendar and sent emails for this week. Write this week's note with wins, progress, blockers, and next week's focus, and a shorter version I can send my manager.

Learn more

• Getting Feedback for capturing feedback worth recording.
• Annual Review for the yearly look back that these notes feed.
• Weekly Planning Meeting for the team planning side of the week.
• Journaling for freer private writing.