It is already the end of the third quarter of the year, which means that lots of businesses are getting ready for a review of the quarter and how people performed. At my company we call it a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) and I had traditionally struggled to report on my work due to its creative and agency-like nature.
Obviously, it's important to put your best foot forward at these kinds of reviews. You can set yourself up for better compensation and better opportunities when your report is impressive, but how and what do you track to accomplish this?
Before we get into the weeds, I do recognize not everybody is able to have the autonomy or authority to set their own goals or even report on their own progress. However, I think these principles and techniques will still give you a base of information that you can use when the opportunity arises—even if it's just beefing up your LinkedIn profile.
Track Everything
Don't report on everything, but do try to track everything.
Business people love data. Understandably so, because it makes us feel secure since we can point to numbers and say "That bad" and "That good."
Some positions, however, are really difficult to quantify in a meaningful way. What if you're a graphic designer? Reporting on the number of images you exported is a really bad way to show your value.
The quantity and sometimes the quality of work doesn't matter as much as the business outcome that your work contributes to.
Tracking your work is just for you. It helps you identify the patterns that you can interpret and express to show your value and uncover problems that the team needs to be aware of.
We don't always know what metrics might be needed as we're working day to day, so I've tried to use "track everything," as a reminder to take notes on my work, record differences (before and after I did something), and highlight special tasks completed.
Here are a few things I like to track:
- Time it takes to do a task manually (before you automate), and time it takes after you automate.
- Details that highlight quality or craftsmanship—the stuff people only notice when you don't do it.
- "Testimonials" or praise that another team member gives you, if it's specific to a project or task.
- Number of tasks received vs. completed.
- What kind of tasks are received? How many of those are "interruptions"?
- Usage data for the software I create for the team. (How much is my tool being used? How many people are using it?)
Reporting = Data + Story
Obviously, this comes with nuance depending on your job, and I am of course, not implying that you should embellish, hide, or otherwise deceive people as you report on your work. However, there are a few common traps I've seen even experienced professionals fall into, as well as a few tips to make your data go further.
Don't report on "time"
The idea that your time is what is valuable puts you in a terrible position. Freelancers deal with this when they use hourly billing models for their work. No one cares how much time something took—in fact, framing an outcome in "time spent" makes you sound like an expense, and we don't want to be viewed in this light. We want to be viewed as either an investment or profit.
If all you have right now are time metrics, consider reframing it in terms of time saved. Even better, don't mention time, simply mention efficiencies: "We removed the friction for XYZ process, which helped us increase our output by 12%."
It's worth doing some math and tracking as much as you can to get out of time-based reporting. Businesses and bosses care about making more money or saving on costs. Unless you've been given other parameters that the business cares about regarding your work, figure out how you've contributed to the business machine of profits and savings.
Don't report on everything
Choose your most impactful stats or outcomes and stop sharing while you're ahead.
Last year, I was demonstrating something to a team and heard audible gasps from the other Zoom profiles. "That's amazing—show me more!"
I hadn't prepared more to show, because I had limited time in the meeting, but I made the mistake of indulging them and it tanked my presentation. Never go past the "sale," leave them wanting more.
There's also a danger when you overshare: people get bored, distracted, or tired. Having lots to report on feels like a good thing to you, but it's almost always better to show restraint and respect for time by pulling out the highlights and making that data really digestable.
Use the "before and after" framework.
People can't help but be intrigued when you provide two things to compare. It puts abstract data in context, and it encourages the viewer to engage since they'll take a moment to consider the original state with the new state.
Think weight loss photos. You may see someone in the middle of their journey and it may not seem like they've accomplished anything. Seeing where they started suddenly puts their current progress in context and makes even smaller numbers appear more impressive.
Story
Data always needs story to be effective. Even data-people know that you have to add commentary to the data for people to understand what it means.
Tell your story and use the data you have to provide the evidence for the story.
Reporting Through Notes at Work
I take my notes in Obsidian, but any software will work (just make sure you follow any policies your company may have). I've stolen an idea from a YouTuber, whose name I've long forgotten (sorry), but I've made some changes to his original system to be a little easier to report and track things throughout the quarter and the year.
For the visual learners, I recorded a live (unedited) breakdown of this system so you can see how it works (10 minutes).
Exclusive CYBORG_ Subscriber content! https://youtu.be/G5ZG3OKJTbc
Here's the gist of how I do this:
Daily
We start with the Daily Note, which in Obsidian can be automatically opened each day, and can be templated with the following headings:
- Outcomes
- (Special Interest / Goal)
- Notes
In my case, I use the heading "Accessibility" as my second, special interest heading, because I want to track the above-and-beyond efforts to fix or improve accessibility on my websites.
When I have achieved something note-worthy during the work day, I throw a quick bullet point under the "Outcomes" heading or the "Special Interest" heading if it's relevant.
I use the Notes section for any meetings or things I need to jot down in the moment—it's my "scratch paper" section that will probably never be looked at again. If there is something useful in the Notes section, I'll highlight those parts and move them into a real note file.
The highlights at the top of the note are the most important part of the daily note. These will be brought into other notes as we progress through the system.
Monthly
This is where you collect all of the highlights and outcomes that you identified in your daily notes. Obsidian allows you to embed notes by heading so it makes this really easy to build a little dashboard for the month.
If you are using Obsidian, here's how you add an embedded link that shows only a specific heading ("Outcomes") and its contents:
![[2024-09-17#Outcomes]]
Now that we have the highlights from our daily notes together in this month-view, we can prune it down to the most impactful outcomes.
![[Monthly Overview Example.png]]
The Monthly template also has the same headings as the Daily template, but this time, they're sourced from the embedded content above them.
At the end of the month, I'll make sure all of the daily notes with either outcomes or special-interest content are pulled into the month file. Then I look through each outcome and copy and paste them into the Monthly Outcomes section, rewording or editing as needed.
Not every outcome matters to everyone, so keep in mind whoever it is that you need to report to, and use their goals and expectations as a measuring stick to leave out or include any of your outcome summaries.
Next, do the same thing with the Special Interest section: Pull from the highlights, include or edit them to be as clear and impactful as possible.
Optionally, you can add these headings to the Monthly template:
- Decisions
- Suggestions for Improvement
When I'm working on larger projects, there are major decisions I make in the moment. Maybe the design just doesn't work on mobile the way it was mocked up. Maybe we realized as a team that the URL structure needed to be modified for better SEO and information architecture.
These decisions are easy to remember in the context of the project, but they easily fade as new projects take your full attention. Having a place where you can record these high-impact decisions might be helpful. Not only for reporting, but sometimes to de-escalate an argument with all of the reasons why the decision needed to be made. (I don't know why that last part was important to point out, devs never fight about the best way to do things...lol).
Suggestions for improvement is also helpful at the monthly level for me, because usually day-to-day there aren't that many problems or team issues. However, I'm asked for suggestions frequently in one-on-one meetings with my manager, performance reviews, and even our QBRs. Having this on hand helps me note the problem right when it's relevant, and encourages me to think through a potential solution before bringing it up.
Quarterly
The quarterly template is essentially the same as the monthly template. This time, we're compiling all of the curated highlights for Outcomes and Special Interests from the three months in the quarter.
We'll repeat the same process of pruning, now that we're looking for the most impactful outcomes for the quarter.
Things that are crucial, keep in the Quarterly Outcomes. Things that you like, but that aren't especially compelling are still recorded for you in the monthly template.
Yearly
This obviously is a repeat of the process, but now pulling in the Quarterly headings.
I was absolutely stunned to see my 2024 Yearly note after going through this process yesterday. This will be the first full year that I have used this system.
It's not over, but I found a massive list waiting for me:
It is already the end of the third quarter of the year, which means that lots of businesses are getting ready for a review of the quarter and how people performed. At my company we call it a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) and I had traditionally struggled to report on my work due to its creative and agency-like nature.
Obviously, it’s important to put your best foot forward at these kinds of reviews. You can set yourself up for better compensation and better opportunities when your report is impressive, but how and what do you track to accomplish this?
Before we get into the weeds, I do recognize not everybody is able to have the autonomy or authority to set their own goals or even report on their own progress. However, I think these principles and techniques will still give you a base of information that you can use when the opportunity arises—even if it’s just beefing up your LinkedIn profile.
Track Everything
Don’t report on everything, but do try to track everything.
Business people love data. Understandably so, because it makes us feel secure since we can point to numbers and say “That bad” and “That good.”
Some positions, however, are really difficult to quantify in a meaningful way. What if you’re a graphic designer? Reporting on the number of images you exported is a really bad way to show your value.
The quantity and sometimes the quality of work doesn’t matter as much as the business outcome that your work contributes to.
Tracking your work is just for you. It helps you identify the patterns that you can interpret and express to show your value and uncover problems that the team needs to be aware of.
We don’t always know what metrics might be needed as we’re working day to day, so I’ve tried to use “track everything,” as a reminder to take notes on my work, record differences (before and after I did something), and highlight special tasks completed.
Here are a few things I like to track:
- Time it takes to do a task manually (before you automate), and time it takes after you automate.
- Details that highlight quality or craftsmanship—the stuff people only notice when you don’t do it.
- “Testimonials” or praise that another team member gives you, if it’s specific to a project or task.
- Number of tasks received vs. completed.
- What kind of tasks are received? How many of those are “interruptions”?
- Usage data for the software I create for the team. (How much is my tool being used? How many people are using it?)
Reporting = Data + Story
Obviously, this comes with nuance depending on your job, and I am of course, not implying that you should embellish, hide, or otherwise deceive people as you report on your work. However, there are a few common traps I’ve seen even experienced professionals fall into, as well as a few tips to make your data go further.
Don’t report on “time”
The idea that your time is what is valuable puts you in a terrible position. Freelancers deal with this when they use hourly billing models for their work. No one cares how much time something took—in fact, framing an outcome in “time spent” makes you sound like an expense, and we don’t want to be viewed in this light. We want to be viewed as either an investment or profit.
If all you have right now are time metrics, consider reframing it in terms of time saved. Even better, don’t mention time, simply mention efficiencies: “We removed the friction for XYZ process, which helped us increase our output by 12%.”
It’s worth doing some math and tracking as much as you can to get out of time-based reporting. Businesses and bosses care about making more money or saving on costs. Unless you’ve been given other parameters that the business cares about regarding your work, figure out how you’ve contributed to the business machine of profits and savings.
Don’t report on everything
Choose your most impactful stats or outcomes and stop sharing while you’re ahead.
Last year, I was demonstrating something to a team and heard audible gasps from the other Zoom profiles. “That’s amazing—show me more!”
I hadn’t prepared more to show, because I had limited time in the meeting, but I made the mistake of indulging them and it tanked my presentation. Never go past the “sale,” leave them wanting more.
There’s also a danger when you overshare: people get bored, distracted, or tired. Having lots to report on feels like a good thing to you, but it’s almost always better to show restraint and respect for time by pulling out the highlights and making that data really digestible.
Use the “before and after” framework.
People can’t help but be intrigued when you provide two things to compare. It puts abstract data in context, and it encourages the viewer to engage since they’ll take a moment to consider the original state with the new state.
Think weight loss photos. You may see someone in the middle of their journey and it may not seem like they’ve accomplished anything. Seeing where they started suddenly puts their current progress in context and makes even smaller numbers appear more impressive.
Story
Data always needs story to be effective. Even data-people know that you have to add commentary to the data for people to understand what it means.
Tell your story and use the data you have to provide the evidence for the story.
Know someone who might enjoy reading this? Forward it to them!
If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here if you want more.
Reporting Through Notes at Work
I take my notes in Obsidian, but any software will work (just make sure you follow any policies your company may have). I’ve stolen an idea from a YouTuber, whose name I’ve long forgotten (sorry), but I’ve made some changes to his original system to be a little easier to report and track things throughout the quarter and the year.
For the visual learners, I recorded a live (unedited) breakdown of this system so you can see how it works (10 minutes).
Exclusive CYBORG_ Subscriber content! https://youtu.be/G5ZG3OKJTbc
Here’s the gist of how I do this:
Daily
We start with the Daily Note, which in Obsidian can be automatically opened each day, and can be templated with the following headings:
- Outcomes
- (Special Interest / Goal)
- Notes
In my case, I use the heading “Accessibility” as my second, special interest heading, because I want to track the above-and-beyond efforts to fix or improve accessibility on my websites.
When I have achieved something note-worthy during the work day, I throw a quick bullet point under the “Outcomes” heading or the “Special Interest” heading if it’s relevant.
I use the Notes section for any meetings or things I need to jot down in the moment—it’s my “scratch paper” section that will probably never be looked at again. If there is something useful in the Notes section, I’ll highlight those parts and move them into a real note file.
The highlights at the top of the note are the most important part of the daily note. These will be brought into other notes as we progress through the system.
Monthly
This is where you collect all of the highlights and outcomes that you identified in your daily notes. Obsidian allows you to embed notes by heading so it makes this really easy to build a little dashboard for the month.
If you are using Obsidian, here’s how you add an embedded link that shows only a specific heading (“Outcomes”) and its contents:
![[2024-09-17#Outcomes]]
Now that we have the highlights from our daily notes together in this month-view, we can prune it down to the most impactful outcomes.
The Monthly template also has the same headings as the Daily template, but this time, they’re sourced from the embedded content above them.
At the end of the month, I’ll make sure all of the daily notes with either outcomes or special-interest content are pulled into the month file. Then I look through each outcome and copy and paste them into the Monthly Outcomes section, rewording or editing as needed.
Not every outcome matters to everyone, so keep in mind whoever it is that you need to report to, and use their goals and expectations as a measuring stick to leave out or include any of your outcome summaries.
Next, do the same thing with the Special Interest section: Pull from the highlights, include or edit them to be as clear and impactful as possible.
Optionally, you can add these headings to the Monthly template: - Decisions - Suggestions for Improvement
When I’m working on larger projects, there are major decisions I make in the moment. Maybe the design just doesn’t work on mobile the way it was mocked up. Maybe we realized as a team that the URL structure needed to be modified for better SEO and information architecture.
These decisions are easy to remember in the context of the project, but they easily fade as new projects take your full attention. Having a place where you can record these high-impact decisions might be helpful. Not only for reporting, but sometimes to de-escalate an argument with all of the reasons why the decision needed to be made. (I don’t know why that last part was important to point out, devs never fight about the best way to do things…lol).
Suggestions for improvement is also helpful at the monthly level for me, because usually day-to-day there aren’t that many problems or team issues. However, I’m asked for suggestions frequently in one-on-one meetings with my manager, performance reviews, and even our QBRs. Having this on hand helps me note the problem right when it’s relevant, and encourages me to think through a potential solution before bringing it up.
Quarterly
The quarterly template is essentially the same as the monthly template. This time, we’re compiling all of the curated highlights for Outcomes and Special Interests from the three months in the quarter.
We’ll repeat the same process of pruning, now that we’re looking for the most impactful outcomes for the quarter.
Things that are crucial, keep in the Quarterly Outcomes. Things that you like, but that aren’t especially compelling are still recorded for you in the monthly template.
Yearly
This obviously is a repeat of the process, but now pulling in the Quarterly headings.
I was absolutely stunned to see my 2024 Yearly note after going through this process yesterday. This will be the first full year that I have used this system.
It’s not over, but I found a massive list waiting for me:
Cyborg
Tracking and reporting are skills that tend to be left under-developed, mostly because we're so busy with everything else we have to do.
This system has helped me stay on top of things and I've gotten great feedback from my manager about the information I report on. In my last performance review, she was astonished that I even had a couple of quotes from team members regarding a project I had done.
"That's cool, Jess! You even got quotes in there. How are you so on top of everything?"