The 30-minute Friday review that keeps a business on track
A simple weekly review for founders and managers: five numbers, three questions, one fix and one owner. Includes a free printable template.
Thirty minutes every Friday can save your whole month. Small weekly corrections beat big quarterly surprises.
Why weekly
Monthly reviews arrive too late. By the time you notice a problem, four weeks of it have already happened. A short weekly review catches problems while they’re still small and cheap to fix.
The structure
1. Five numbers (10 minutes)
Look at the same five numbers every week, compared with last week and your target:
- Cash in the bank, in weeks of runway.
- New leads this week.
- Conversion rate.
- Delivery on time.
- Repeat or referral rate.
2. Three questions (10 minutes)
- What worked this week?
- What didn’t, and why? Keep asking “why” until you reach a cause you can fix.
- What is the one thing to fix next week?
3. One fix, one owner (5 minutes)
Write the fix down. Give it one owner, a due date and a way to know it worked. One fix done well beats five started.
4. Close the week (5 minutes)
Check last week’s fix, share one win with the team, and block next Friday in the calendar.
Rules that make it work
- Same day, same time, every week.
- Numbers prepared before the meeting, not during it.
- No new projects get added without asking what will stop.
Get the template
Download the free 30-minute Friday review, a one-page printable checklist. If you’d rather have the numbers update automatically, the Five-Number Dashboard template sets it up in Google Sheets.
So, how might we make the Friday review a habit, not a good intention?