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Meeting agenda templates

Project status meeting agenda template

A 45-minute weekly agenda that gives most of its time to risks and decisions. The status itself goes out in writing the day before, so nobody spends the meeting reading a slide aloud.

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The 45-minute agenda

45 min · Weekly

A recurring project update with a mixed group. Written status goes out before the meeting; the meeting itself is for risks and decisions.

Agenda

  1. 1

    Status against plan

    Schedule, scope, budget. Circulate the written update beforehand.

    8 min
  2. 2

    Completed since last meeting

    Only what changed. Skip anything already reported.

    5 min
  3. 3

    Risks and issues

    Rank by impact before the meeting so the top one gets real time.

    12 min
  4. 4

    Decisions needed today

    Name the decision maker for each. No decision maker, no agenda slot.

    12 min
  5. 5

    Next milestones and owners

    Confirm dates rather than restating the plan.

    6 min
  6. 6

    Action item review

    Read back what was assigned in this meeting.

    2 min

Goals for this meeting

  • Schedule, scope and budget are each stated against plan
  • Every risk has an owner and a next step

Action items

Leave this blank. It gets written in the meeting, one line per commitment: what, who, and by when.

Open in the builder

How to run each part

  1. 1

    Status against plan 8 min

    Cover schedule, scope and budget, each as on plan, at risk or off plan, with one sentence of reason. The written update already carried the detail, so this slot is for questions about it. If there are none, move on early and bank the minutes for risks.

  2. 2

    Completed since last meeting 5 min

    List what finished and what it unblocks. Include last week's action items here too: closed, still open, or dropped, with anything dropped said out loud. Leave work in progress out, since it either shows up in the status or doesn't matter yet.

  3. 3

    Risks and issues 12 min

    An issue is happening now and a risk might. Rank both by impact before the meeting and start at the top, because the room runs out of attention before it runs out of list. Expect to cover two or three properly. Each one leaves with an owner and a next step, even when the step is to check again on Thursday.

  4. 4

    Decisions needed today 12 min

    This is the slot the meeting exists for. Anything that needs the sponsor, a budget call, or a trade-off between teams goes here, written as a choice with the options spelled out. If nobody who can make the decision is attending, pull the item and book them instead.

  5. 5

    Next milestones and owners 6 min

    Confirm the next two milestones, their dates and who owns each. When a date has moved, say so here, in front of everyone, rather than in a hallway afterwards.

  6. 6

    Action item review 2 min

    Read back each new action item with its owner and due date. It takes two minutes and saves next week's round of "I thought you had that."

The status update to send the day before

The agenda only fits in 45 minutes if the reporting happens in writing first. Send this 24 hours ahead, by email or pasted into the invite, and keep it to one screen.

[Project name]: status update, week of [date]

Overall: On track / At risk / Off track

Schedule: [status]. [One sentence on why]
Scope: [status]. [One sentence on why]
Budget: [status]. [Spent vs. planned to date]

Completed since last update
- [What finished, and what it unblocks]

Last week's action items
- [Item / owner]: closed, still open, or dropped

Top risks and issues, ranked by impact
1. [Risk] / owner: [name] / next step: [step]
2. [Risk] / owner: [name] / next step: [step]

Decisions needed at the meeting
1. [Decision, with the options] / who decides: [name]

Next milestones
- [Milestone] / [date] / [owner]

A filled-in example

The same agenda after a week on a customer portal relaunch, six weeks into a fourteen-week plan. The notes are what someone typed during the meeting.

  1. 1. Status against plan

    • Schedule at risk: the payment vendor's sandbox access slipped a week, which pushes checkout testing.
    • Scope on plan. Budget on plan, 41% spent at 43% of the timeline.

  2. 2. Completed since last meeting

    • Account settings pages are on staging, which unblocks the support team's walkthrough.
    • Last week's four action items: three closed, the load-test plan still open.

  3. 3. Risks and issues

    • Payment sandbox delay (Dana): ask the vendor for a firm date by Wednesday. With no date, test checkout against mocks.
    • Two of the four support agents booked for user testing are on leave in week 9 (Priya): confirm backups with the support lead.

  4. 4. Decisions needed today

    • Launch with saved cards only, or wait for Apple Pay? Decided by Tom (sponsor): launch with saved cards, Apple Pay in the first follow-up release.
    • Push user testing back a week? Deferred to next meeting, once the vendor date is known.

  5. 5. Next milestones and owners

    • Checkout feature-complete by end of week 8 (Dana).
    • User testing starts week 9 (Priya), pending the decision above.

  6. 6. Action item review

    • Four items read back. The load-test plan carries over from last week.

Action items

Item Owner Due
Get a firm sandbox date from the payment vendor Dana Wed
Confirm backup agents for user testing Priya Fri
Remove Apple Pay from the launch scope doc Marcus Thu
Finish the load-test plan from last week Marcus Fri

Need to write these up after the meeting? The minutes template turns the same agenda into shareable minutes.

Project Status Meeting FAQ

Running the Meeting

How long should a project status meeting be?
45 minutes suits most projects with a mixed group, and it's what this template adds up to. A small team on a single workstream can do it in 30 by cutting risks and decisions to 8 minutes each. If yours regularly runs past an hour, the status is probably being presented live instead of sent ahead.
Who should attend a project status meeting?
The project manager, the workstream leads, and whoever can make the decisions on the agenda, which is usually the sponsor. People who only have an update to give can put it in the written status and skip the meeting. A bigger room makes the risks discussion slower without making it any better.
How often should you hold a project status meeting?
Weekly, for most projects. Go to twice a week in the run-up to a launch or when risks are piling up, and to every other week during a long, steady stretch. Keep the written update weekly either way.
What's the difference between a status meeting and a standup?
A standup is daily, takes 15 minutes, and is for the people doing the work to surface blockers. A status meeting is weekly, includes stakeholders, and is where schedule, scope and budget decisions get made. Here is a daily standup agenda to go with this one.

Status Updates

What goes in a project status report?
Overall status, then schedule, scope and budget each against plan, what was completed, last week's action items, the top risks with owners, the decisions needed, and the next milestones. The copy-ready version above fits on one screen, which is the right length.
Can a written update replace the status meeting?
Some weeks, yes. If the written status raises no decision and no risk worth discussing, send it and cancel that week's meeting. Most projects still need the meeting for the decisions slot. How to tell which meetings to hold.
How do I run the same status meeting every week?
Keep the agenda identical so people learn its shape and prepare for it, and start from last week's open action items. In Less Meeting the agenda is saved on the recurring series, and anything left open last week appears in this week's meeting until someone closes it, with reminders to the owner in between. Less Meeting for project managers.

Other agenda templates

Project Kickoff Meeting

60 min · Once, at the start

Daily Standup

15 min · Daily

Weekly Team Meeting

30 min · Weekly

See all nine agenda templates →

Stop rebuilding this agenda every week.

Save it on the recurring series in Less Meeting. Each week opens with the same agenda plus the action items still open from the last one, and owners get reminders until they close them.

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