Organize personal deliverables and deadlines to stay accountable.

Why You Need a Weekly Task Tracker

When you’re juggling multiple responsibilities, it’s easy to get stuck in reaction mode – doing random tasks as they come instead of following a clear plan. A weekly task tracker keeps you:

1. Clear on what’s expected of you
2. Organized so nothing slips through
3. Accountable to deadlines

Step 1 – Identify Your Weekly Tasks

Before you even open Google Sheets or task tracker, you need to collect the right inputs so your tracker reflects what really matters. Where to find your tasks:

1. From Sprint Planning Meetings
   1. Check your notes from the sprint planning meetings for the things that were directly assigned to you
   2. Check your sprint backlog in Jira, Trello, or whichever tool you use.
   3. Note down only the tasks assigned to you (or where you’re responsible for follow-up).
2. From Standups (Async or Live)
   1. Listen for dependencies – if someone says they’re waiting on you for something, that’s a task for your tracker.
   2. Update tasks based on changes discussed during the meeting.
3. From Client or Stakeholder Updates
   1. Review meeting notes or emails to pick out action items that fall under your responsibility.
   2. Clarify any vague requests before adding them to your tracker.
4. From Your PM or Team Lead
   1. Sometimes tasks are assigned outside formal meetings.
   2. Go through Slack, email, or your task management tool for any recent instructions.
5. From Ongoing Projects
   1. Look at last week’s tracker – anything still incomplete should be rolled over (with updated deadlines).

Step 2 – Create Your Google Sheet

1. Go to Google Sheets
2. Click Blank Spreadsheet
3. Title it: Your Name – Weekly Task Tracker. Example: Dami – Weekly Task Tracker

Step 3 – Set Up Your Columns

1. In Row 1, create:
   1. Task Name – for the name of the task
   2. Description – for you to understand what you are meant to do better
   3. Source – for you to know where and how the task came to and helps you trace back if there’s confusion later.
   4. Priority – for you to know how important the task is and how soon to get it done
   5. Deadline – for you to know the when the task is due 
   6. Status – for you to know and remember if you have worked on it or not
   7. Notes – for any additional information that can help you carry out the task

Step 4 – Fill in Your Tasks

1. List everything you gathered in Step 1.
2. Break large work into smaller, trackable steps
   1. Instead of: “Work on client website”
   2. List: “Collect homepage copy from client”, “Share theme shortlist with client”, “Send setup instructions to developer”.

Step 5 – Color Code Status for Clarity (Optional but helpful)

1. High priority: Red background
2. Medium priority: Yellow background
3. Low priority: Green background
4. Done: Strike-through text or greyed-out row

Step 6 – Update Daily

1. Morning: Check if new tasks have come from standups or messages – add them immediately.
2. Evening: Update status and move anything unfinished into the next week’s plan.

Step 7 – Managing and maintaining the task tracker 

1. Create a sheet for keeping the tasks that you have completed as an accountability record for what you have been doing.
2. Move the done tasks to the ‘completed’ sheet to keep your list of tasks as up to date as possible. When Done:
   1. Highlight the row
   2. Cut (Ctrl + X / Cmd + X)
   3. Paste into the Completed sheet with date of completion in a new column
      
      

Pro Tips for Interns

Never start your week without first identifying your tasks – a tracker is useless without the right inputs.