What this template is for
Weekly project status updates exist to give a sponsor a credible read on whether a project is on track without forcing them to read every ticket. They fail when the update is improvised each week, when RAG colours are aspirational, or when the same risks reappear with no mitigation in sight.
This template treats the weekly status as a structured artefact, captured as a Jira issue per reporting week, with required fields and explicit asks.
When to use it
Use this template for every project that has a sponsor or steering group expecting a weekly read. For team-level work, the sprint-retrospective template covers the reflection cadence.
How to set it up in Jira
Create a status-reports project (or a single Jira project per program). Add the custom fields above to the Create Issue screen, with RAG and Reporting Week required via Custom Fields screen rules. Link the update to the project Epic or charter issue.
Sub-task breakdown
- Collect inputs from team leads is the gather step.
- Confirm RAG with the project lead prevents wishful colour-grading.
- Write the update is the synthesis.
- Send to sponsor and steering is the delivery.
- File and link decisions ensures decisions captured in the update are durable.
Use STM Issue Templates to auto-create the weekly status issue and its sub-tasks on a schedule (via an Executor or a scheduled Jira automation). See /stm-overview/ for related patterns.
Fields to add to your Jira create screen
These are the fields a project admin should make sure exist on the Create Issue screen for this issue type (Project settings → Screens). Without these on the screen, reporters can't provide the information triage needs - and STM can't reference them either.
| Field | Example value | Required |
|---|---|---|
Summary | Status - Payments platform - Week of 2026-05-19 | Yes |
Project (custom) | Payments Platform Modernisation | Yes |
Reporting Week (custom) | 2026-W21 | Yes |
Overall RAG (custom) | Green / Amber / Red | Yes |
Progress This Week (custom) | Bulleted achievements | No |
Planned Next Week (custom) | Bulleted upcoming work | No |
Top Risks (custom) | With likelihood and mitigation | No |
Active Blockers (custom) | Who owns each unblock | No |
Decisions Made (custom) | Linked decision-log entries | No |
Asks of Sponsor (custom) | Specific asks, with deadlines | No |
Component/s | status-reports | No |
Labels | status, payments-program | No |
Attachments | Burn-up chart, dashboard screenshot | No |
Note on custom fields. STM currently supports up to 5 custom fields per template. You can add as many custom fields as you like to your Jira Create Issue screen - the 5-field limit only applies if you want STM to set or update those custom fields itself.
Sub-tasks STM creates automatically
Build an STM sub-task template containing the items below, then wire it to an On Create Issue Executor scoped to this issue type. Whenever a new issue of this type is created in the project, STM creates the full sub-task set in one step - with assignee, due date, and components inherited from the parent unless you override them.
- Collect inputs from team leads
- Confirm RAG with the project lead
- Write the update
- Send to sponsor and steering group
- File and link decisions to the decision log
Common questions
What is a Jira weekly project status update template?
It is a Jira task created once a week per project that captures progress, RAG status, risks, blockers, decisions, and asks. Filing one issue per reporting week creates an auditable history of project health and makes it easy to spot when status started slipping - rather than relying on a chain of emails or a constantly-overwritten Confluence page.
How do you write a project status update in Jira?
Create one Jira issue per reporting week using this template. Populate RAG, progress, risks, and asks before the weekly stand-up so the team can sanity-check it. Link any decisions captured in the update to a decision-log-entry issue. Send the issue (or a generated digest) to the sponsor and steering group; close the issue when the week ends.
Should weekly status updates be Jira issues or Confluence pages?
Jira issues give you trend data (six weeks of amber in a row is itself a finding), assignable asks, and explicit links to the decisions captured. Confluence pages give you better narrative formatting. Many teams use the Jira issue as the structured record and embed a rendered version in a Confluence space for the steering group's reading experience.
What custom fields belong on a weekly status update?
Project, reporting week, overall RAG, progress, planned, top risks, active blockers, decisions made, and asks of sponsor. Configure RAG via Custom Fields select list so dashboards can colour-code automatically. Required-on-create for RAG and Reporting Week so dashboards never miss a data point.
Automate the sub-tasks with STM
STM Issue Templates saves the sub-task list above as a reusable template and creates them on every new issue of this type - via an Executor on issue creation, on status transition, or triggered manually from the issue's "Create bulk sub-tasks" menu. STM does not change the parent issue's create screen (that's a Jira project-settings job) but it removes the manual work of creating the sub-tasks every time.
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