The Power of the Daily Briefing

I work for a fast moving and growing company. This makes it a super interesting place to work, but can also mean priorities change in the blink of an eye.

A few months ago, my principal and I were discussing different ways that we can make sure we're both on the same wavelength. We talk every day and have a solid planning session at the end of each week, but we both realised there was a missing piece to the "how do we work together" puzzle.

My principal has a few rules around which his day is centred so anything we developed would need to work in lockstep with these:

1. he checks his calendar once in the morning, and then goes with it
2. he needs at least one block a day where he can work, uninterrupted
3. our shared Notion to do list is his reference point for things he needs to keep on his radar

About a week later, I started sending daily briefings first thing in the morning. They are always future-facing, so, for example, the briefing I send on Monday morning will be for Tuesday.

What goes into a daily brief?

I tend to split it out into a few sections:

1. key meetings to prep for, including links to pre-reads
2. topics that my principal needs to think about
3. any outstanding questions and follow up actions (this could be anything from agenda points, to confirming a discussion has happened)
4. interesting articles

The content will depend on what is happening on any given day or week, but will always include a combination (or all!) of the sections.

Why should I think about using them?

The briefs have been game-changing for 3 reasons -

1. my principal and I can quickly clear-off outstanding actions on his to do list, avoiding multiple slack messages
2. they form the basis for our weekly meetings, meaning we can spend more problem-solving
3. the Notion archive allows us to track what has taken up most of his time for that month and plan better for the future

Interested in trialling daily briefings? Use my downloadable checklist to get started