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weekly-delivery-operating-review

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Weekly delivery operating review

Purpose: A lightweight, evidence-based weekly review that keeps the delivery portfolio accountable to the same standard. Replaces ad hoc 1:1 check-ins as the primary accountability mechanism for CSOs, SLs, and ICs.

Use this as:

  • the template and agenda for the weekly leadership sync
  • the format for any CSO or SL bringing their account into review
  • the record that makes the review auditable over time

Principles

  • Exception-based, not round-robin: only accounts with something to surface get airtime.
  • Evidence-cited, not narrative-only: every risk, miss, or win references a Linear board, vault doc, or checkpoint note.
  • Owner-forward: every item leaves the review with a named owner and next step.
  • No surprises: anything reviewed here should not be news to the CSO or SL in the room.

Who attends

RoleParticipation
Head of DeliveryFacilitates; makes intervention decisions
CSOsBring accounts with active risks, PRM upcoming, or standard misses
SLsAttend when: technical risk is flagged; SL metrics are being reviewed; HoD requests
PM-focused IC / project managerMaintains review record, flags request-routing drift, Linear hygiene issues, and unclear client escalation paths
ICsAttend only when explicitly pulled in for a specific technical question

Cadence

Weekly. 45–60 minutes. Time-boxed per account. Default: asynchronous pre-read submitted by CSO before the meeting.

Pre-read format (CSO submits before review)

Each CSO submits a brief per active account. Aim for one paragraph or a short bullet set — not a novel.

Account: [Client name]
CSO: [Name]
SL: [Name]

Status: Green / Yellow / Red
  - Green = no active risk, on track
  - Yellow = risk identified, mitigation in progress
  - Red = risk is active, decision needed from HoD

Since last week:
  - [What moved. What was delivered. What changed.]

Risks / blockers this week:
  - [What is at risk. Who owns it. What is the proposed path.]

Client narrative vs board reality:
  - [Are these aligned? If not, what is the gap and who is closing it?]

Escalation or decision needed:
  - [Yes / No. If yes: what is the question, what are the options, what is the recommended path.]

Relationship / routing signals:
  - [Any client bypassing CSO? Any new stakeholder coming to the wrong person? Any request-routing confusion?]

KPI flags (if any):
  - [Reference relevant C/S/I KPI from the delivery KPI dictionary if a threshold is being approached or missed.]

Meeting agenda

Part 1 — Portfolio heat map (5 min)

HoD reviews the pre-reads before the meeting and opens with the portfolio snapshot:

  • Red accounts: how many, who, what is needed
  • Yellow accounts: which ones need airtime
  • Green accounts: no discussion unless someone flags

Anything not pre-read or not pre-submitted is deferred to a follow-up 1:1, not discussed in the group.

Part 2 — Account reviews (30–40 min)

Accounts reviewed in priority order: Red first, Yellow second.

Per account (time-boxed to 5–10 min):

  1. CSO states the risk or decision in one sentence.
  2. SL responds with technical reality (if technical risk is involved).
  3. PM-focused IC / project manager confirms whether the risk is reflected in Linear / plan artifacts and whether the client request or escalation path is logged.
  4. HoD asks clarifying questions, then decides:
    • Continue with current plan
    • Request updated plan or re-gate
    • Escalate to founders
    • Assign intervention owner

What sends an account backward:

  • Risk stated without a proposed path
  • “Things are fine” with no evidence
  • SL and CSO disagreeing on the account state with no resolution plan
  • Decisions needed that were not surfaced in the pre-read
  • Founder / client escalation patterns discussed without a relationship map or channel plan

Part 3 — Standards misses (5–10 min)

HoD flags any KPI misses or patterns visible from the period:

  • Which CSOs missed C1–C4 thresholds this period
  • Which SLs missed S1–S5 thresholds this period
  • Which IC patterns have been escalated to SL (recurring I1–I3 misses)
  • Team-layer metric status (T1–T3)
  • Any founder pings or client bypasses that indicate a CSO relationship-management miss

Misses are named directly. The goal is coaching, not prosecution. Repeated misses without corrective action become performance conversations.

Part 4 — Decisions and owners (5 min)

HoD reads out every item that left the review with an owner and next step. All items are logged in the review record (see template below).

Review record format

File the record in the client vault or the delivery ops folder at: knowledge/delivery/04-standards-and-sops/weekly-review-records/YYYY-MM-DD.md

# Weekly delivery operating review — YYYY-MM-DD

Facilitated by: [HoD name]

## Portfolio heat
- Red: [list]
- Yellow: [list]
- Green: [count only]

## Account decisions

| Account | Risk / decision | Owner | Next step | Due |
|---------|----------------|-------|-----------|-----|
| [Client] | [One sentence] | [Name] | [Action] | [Date] |

## Standards misses flagged

| Role | Person | KPI | Miss | Corrective action |
|------|--------|-----|------|-------------------|
| [CSO/SL/IC] | [Name] | [e.g. C2] | [Description] | [Owner + action] |

## Open escalations aging

| Escalation | Days open | Owner | Status |
|------------|-----------|-------|--------|

## Relationship / routing signals

| Account | Signal | Owner | Follow-up |
|---------|--------|-------|-----------|
| [Client] | [Client bypassed CSO / wrong channel / new stakeholder confusion] | [Name] | [Action] |

What this review is not

  • Not a status update parade. Accounts with no risks do not get airtime.
  • Not a 1:1 coaching session. Individual coaching happens separately.
  • Not a place to first learn about a risk. Pre-reads exist so the review can focus on decisions, not discovery.
  • Not a substitute for CSO-SL alignment. That should have happened before the review.
  • Not a place to relitigate who said what. If a miss occurred, the project record should show the promise, the technical reality, the owner, and the reset plan.

Last updated: 2026-04-27

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