Run a weekly department review
Run a weekly department review in Node Cluster with a consistent project scope, clear ownership and updated tasks at the end of the meeting.
A weekly review should help the team decide what to finish, unblock, or start. Prepare an overview that matches the meeting’s purpose and use the underlying tasks to record decisions.
1. Choose the scope
For one project, use its Overview. For a department, use the appropriate Space overview. For a selected group of projects, create a custom overview named for the review, such as Weekly customer delivery.
In a custom overview, check Manage projects before the meeting. Remove work that no longer belongs in the review and add current projects. This changes the review selection, not where projects live.
2. Set the audience and filters
Select Team, or All when that is the displayed label. Clear unintended filters and confirm the date window. Make sure unassigned work is considered. Mine is useful for personal planning but can give an incomplete picture for a team meeting.
If two participants see different totals, check scope, project selection, audience, filters, and access before discussing whether the data is wrong.
3. Review in a useful order
| Review topic | Question to answer | Update to record |
|---|---|---|
| Blocked work | What decision or input is missing? | Next action, responsible person, check-in date. |
| Overdue commitments | Is the date still realistic? | An agreed plan and explanation. |
| Unassigned work | Who should own it, or should it wait? | Assignee or explicit backlog decision. |
| Active work | What can the team finish before starting more? | Status and next step. |
| Completed work | Is the outcome actually complete? | Done status and useful handoff context. |
Open tasks as you discuss them. Avoid a separate meeting action list that immediately becomes another source of task status.
4. Discuss capacity without overstating the data
Work-in-progress caps are planning signals. Each member can set their own personal cap; Team view uses those values or suggested fallbacks. They are not time sheets, staffing forecasts, or automatic enforcement.
Task effort is perceived difficulty. Do not total it and describe the result as hours. Historical trend sections may use a different time window from the current task list, so read their labels before comparing figures.
5. Close the loop
Finish with a short check: does each blocker have a next action, does priority work have an owner, and do the changed dates reflect actual agreement? Save a useful view default if appropriate, and put any broader decision in the project’s notes.
You are finished when: the work itself reflects the decisions. Someone who missed the meeting should be able to understand what changed by opening the relevant tasks and notes.