How to create a status meeting agenda for more productive meetings–plus free template

We’ve all been there: Summoned to yet another meeting without an agenda. You’ve no idea what you’re going to discuss, how long it’ll take—or even why you need to be there. And you’ve got so much work you should be getting on with… 

Status meetings are valuable to keep teams and projects on track, but people have a lot of meetings overall. That means you need to make each one count, rather than holding meetings for meetings’ sake. 

A well-structured status meeting agenda will help you make the best use of everyone’s time and keep them engaged. Who knows, the act of putting one together might even make you realize you can skip the real time meeting altogether in favor of async updates.  

In this post, you’ll get tips on what to include on your meeting agenda and why, plus how to go about creating one. You’ll also learn how doing more outside the meeting helps keep your team engaged and productive when you do meet.  

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What should be on your status meeting agenda? 

The items you include in your status meeting agenda will depend on your project and team members, but here are a few possibilities.  

Welcome and introductions

• Kick off by welcoming everyone and setting the tone and expectations for the meeting. A bit of informal chat at the start is fine, but keep it short. Getting started on schedule–without waiting for latecomers–shows you respect everyone’s time.  

Ask for everyone’s full participation so you can deal with all the agenda items as efficiently as possible. If you’re meeting online, it helps to follow virtual meeting best practices like asking people to close other open tabs and mute notifications to avoid distractions.

Pro tip: Share the agenda in your dedicated Switchboard room before the meeting so everyone can check it out beforehand. That way, you can get straight down to business when the meeting starts—instead of spending valuable time running through the agenda.    

Project summary 

A summary of project goals, timelines, budget, status, etc. usually comes next. However, if you share it in your Switchboard room before the call and ask everyone to read it, you can skip this part. This lets you run more effective status meetings by focusing on what you need to discuss as a group.  

Pro tip: Use this framework for more productive meetings and working: 

Share asynchronously: Docs, slides, code, etc. 
Review asynchronously: Add comments or make video walkthroughs.
Discuss and decide synchronously: Chat in comment threads or meet to talk as a group.

Wins and achievements 

• Start on a positive by acknowledging individual or team achievements since the last meeting and creating a space for mutual appreciation. 
• For example, you might share some positive client feedback or invite team members to shout each other out for good work or collaboration. This sets a positive tone for the meeting, boosts team morale, and encourages teamwork.
  

Review of previous action items

Next, discuss any action items from the last meeting. This fosters accountability and ensures nothing slips through the cracks. If you have a lot of action items, stick to those that are overdue or due before the next meeting. 

Don’t go around the group in order as this will encourage people to disconnect until it’s their turn. Instead, prioritize action items by urgency or status. 

Questions you can ask include: 

1. Who is the owner of this item? 

2. Are there any changes to the status of this item? 

3. What does the group need to know about this? 

If items are still incomplete, agree on a revised deadline with the owner. If they’re struggling, now’s also the time to find out why and get them the support they need. For example, someone might be facing challenges resolving a tricky bug. If so, ask the team who can help. Remember not to let these discussions sidetrack the meeting, though. One-on-one conversations between team members should take place after the meeting to avoid everyone having to listen to them.  

Project updates

Now, move on to updates that affect the project and the entire team, like changes to deadlines, project specifications, or client needs. 

Again, sharing these async beforehand–via Switchboard, Slack, email, etc.–means you can get straight down to discussing them in the meeting, rather than reading through everything. 

Of course, you may want to communicate bad news or sensitive topics in real time. This lets you gauge reactions and react accordingly. 

For example, the product manager might inform the team that the client has requested an early demo of new features ahead of the scheduled delivery date. Sharing this live means you can deal with questions and provide reassurance before people can panic. You can also collectively brainstorm solutions, reallocate resources as necessary, and keep everyone aligned on priorities.  

If the client is in the meeting, this may be a good time to address their concerns.

Team member updates

Here’s something else you can do async before the meeting: Create a Google Doc or similar in your Switchboard room and ask people to add their updates—and read everyone else’s. Then, use meeting time to focus on providing them with the support they need. For example, a designer might share async that they've completed the initial mock-ups for a new feature and would like feedback. 

Sharing updates promotes accountability and provides visibility into what everyone’s doing—and how that contributes to overall goals. It also lets you understand individual workloads and capacity so you can reassign tasks or extend deadlines if necessary. 

Upcoming milestones and deadlines

Next, briefly review the project goals and any looming milestones and deliverables the team needs to know about before the next meeting. Using your project schedule, check that each is on track to meet the deadline and has the necessary resources allocated. 

Going through milestones with your team ensures everyone is aware of their role in achieving them. It also lets you gauge their ability to meet deadlines and identify any potential roadblocks and brainstorm solutions.   

Now’s also a good time to check everyone is aware of important upcoming dates like training that might affect their capacity.

Pro tip: Pull up all the apps your team uses in your Switchboard room, like your project management tool, issue tracker, etc. Because everything’s multiplayer, you can work side by side on anything and visualize statutes without switching tabs. This minimizes unproductive context switching and helps keep everyone focused and contributing. 

After the meeting, everything stays right where you left it, so if anyone missed it they can hop in and catch up with room recordings or ask Switchboard AI to summarize room activity and files. Best of all, it’ll all be there waiting for you when you have the next meeting—so you never need to prep the room again.

Risks and roadblocks

Once you’re all clear on priorities, you can focus on identifying and discussing any obstacles. As before, it’s best to share any project progress reports async beforehand. That way, you can get straight into collectively finding solutions in the meeting. 

You should also only discuss items with new information. If an issue and its status are unchanged since the last meeting, don’t waste time going over them again. 

This is also the time to surface any new issues or risks and their impact. For example, the developers could share that they can't move forward until another team delivers the new API. If so, the group can explore workarounds or alternatives. 

Remember, though, that you’re not trying to solve every issue in this meeting as this can cause it to go off-topic or overrun.  Instead, create action items with owners, due dates, and follow up—which might be another meeting to discuss in a smaller group. 

Resource allocation

Now you know what you’re dealing with, you can review resource allocation, make adjustments, and provide additional support to maintain momentum on the project. You’re looking to assess your budget and individual or team tasks against project milestones and deadlines so everyone has what they need to succeed. 

If new priorities or challenges have been identified during the meeting, you can reallocate resources to higher-priority items.  

Open communication at this stage fosters transparency and allows team members to understand the limitations or budget and planning. It’s also a chance for them to propose adjustments, which fosters proactive, collaborative problem solving.

Pro tip: Save important project information like timelines and budgets in your dedicated Switchboard project room so people can always find them. No more digging through email or Slack threads! 

Any other business

Toward the end of the meeting, open the floor for team members to bring up any relevant topics not covered in the agenda. This inclusive approach ensures everyone is heard and can lead to valuable insights that increase the chances of project success. For instance, a team member might share that they’ve been using a new collaboration tool that could boost productivity across the project team.

Take meeting notes and ensure these items get documented, discussed, and tracked so they don’t get forgotten about. This builds trust as team members can see their concerns and contributions are taken seriously. 

Action items and next steps 

To wrap up, recap key takeaways so everyone leaves with clarity on priorities and tasks. Also, assign any outstanding action items and responsibilities to team members, with clear deadlines. This turns discussion into action and helps each team member understand their role in driving the project forward. For example, you might ask someone to assess a newly identified risk and report back before the next meeting. 

End by thanking everyone for participating and confirming the date, time, and location of the next meeting. 

Finally, don’t forget to follow up with meeting minutes and action items.

Pro tip: Use Switchboard AI to save time summarizing action items and key takeaways from the meeting. Then, share them in your meeting room so everyone can refer back to them anytime. 

Project status meeting agenda template example  

Here’s a template agenda you can use for your next project status meeting, swapping out items as necessary for your project.

How to create a status meeting agenda 

Now you know what to include on your status meeting agenda, let’s cover how to put it together.

• Think about who needs to be there. To avoid status meetings becoming a waste of time or getting derailed, only invite people who are directly involved in the project. A common mistake, says Jordan Hirsch, CEO, Lead Trainer & Coach, FishTree, is “having too many people who don't really need to be there. Because then people start to feel like you don't respect their time, and it’s a short leap from that to ‘You don't respect me either and I'm feeling a bit burned out anyway.’ That can really start to erode team cohesion and credibility."
  
• Co-create the agenda. Boost engagement by having your team contribute topics in advance. For example, via a document in your shared Switchboard room. “People feel a lot more buy-in,” says Hirsch, “when they help come up with the agenda."
  
• Prioritize agenda items by project stage and team needs. Hirsch says, “There'll be phases when people need to get into a certain issue. Like ‘The deadline moved and we're not gonna be able to hit it. What are we going to tell the client? What do we prioritize? Which feature needs to move up? What's not going to get done?’” At other times, you can fly through everything with a few quick updates—maybe even canceling the meeting altogether and catching up async. 

Check out this post to learn how often to run status meetings.

• Create a “funnel shaped” agenda. Start with topics the entire team needs to be there for, like project updates and action items. Once the meeting becomes less relevant for them, give them permission to leave. This avoids people disengaging and gives you a reputation for running effective, valuable meetings.
  
• Structure the agenda as questions. This lets you assess meeting success: if you answered all the questions by the end, you achieved your goals. It also helps determine whether you actually need a meeting: “If the only question is, ‘What's everyone's status?’” says Hirsch, “you probably don't need the meeting.” If so, or if you’re just sharing information, you can do that async in your Switchboard room. If, however, you have questions you need the group to weigh in on, then you can schedule a call. 
  

Status meeting agendas: The key to running more effective, engaging meetings 

A well thought out status meeting agenda is more than just a guide for discussions: Creating one should make you think about who needs to be there, when, and why. Be honest about whether you’re getting everyone together for valuable decision making or whether you could share information async instead.  

When you do this, it ensures you only get people in the room when you really need to get input and alignment. For example, on agenda items like project updates, action items, risks and roadblocks, and upcoming milestones and deadlines. This will give you a reputation for running valuable meetings people actually want to attend. 

When you hold your team meetings in Switchboard, you also get dedicated rooms where you can explore any file or app in the room side by side—without waiting your turn to share your screen. This makes them more engaging and productive. Because rooms save your work, you can also share information beforehand or even cancel the meeting altogether and check-in async. 

Do more, in less time, in and between meetings. 
Switchboard rooms save your work so you can get more done in real time or async.  
Sign up free.