Recurring Work

On a weekly basis, much of your work is recurring. Even the explanations you give to other team members are often repeated. This repetition can slow you down and bring little value or joy to your work. Automating some of these tasks can make a big difference. Let me show you how in this video.

The video provides examples of tasks you do regularly—like recurring meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, surveys sent every six months, or team retros you lead after a project is completed. All these tasks require preparation, scheduling, sending invites, and creating a folder for notes (ideally one that includes previous notes and is accessible to everyone).

The most important and time-consuming part of recurring work is that it often relies on past decisions, conversations, and updates to understand the current situation and what actions to take next. However, notes can get lost in emails or scattered folders, or different people may take their own notes, leaving some team members unaware of where to find them. This leads to additional meetings, rework, and frustration.

Recurring work isn’t just about having an automatic template—it’s about creating a space that is transparent and accessible to everyone. This allows for better decision-making over time, sharing updates, and having visibility into progress. The video above demonstrates how to do this, but we encourage you to think about all your recurring work, even if it only happens once a year. Can you remember the decisions made a year ago and who was involved? Leave a comment on how this could help you and how you would use it.

In the fast-paced world of team collaboration and project management, maintaining an effective cycle of improvement is crucial for success. Team retrospectives (retros) are an essential part of this process, providing a space for teams to reflect on their work, discuss what’s going well, and identify what needs to change. But retros are most impactful when they lead to clear next steps, ensuring that improvements are more than just discussions—they’re actions. Here, we’ll explore the importance of defining next steps, adopting a mindset of continuous improvement, and properly documenting notes for accessibility to promote long-term team growth.

Here is how you can organize and prepare team retros.

If you are using Nova, add tasks within the team retro session to keep track of actions taken over time, and remember to write final decisions and updates on progress in the conclusion section. Nova allows you to access these records for future tracking, see what has been done to improve, and understand what has worked. This provides transparency among team members, preventing any single person from being the sole holder of knowledge. Make sure to add your conclusions, decisions, and observations on improvements after implementing changes in the conclusion section.