Productivity Consultant, Trainer and Speaker at Life Made Simple, LLC
Answered 8 months ago
In order to track progress and accomplishments, it's important to know what your goals and plan are - so you know what you are tracking. I like to set annual goals, and then based on this I set monthly goals and create a weekly plan to support that longer-term vision. Each week I look back on the prior week, note my accomplishments and reset goals and tasks going forward. Each month, I do a deeper dive into reflecting on the past month. What were my successes and what will I keep doing? Where were my challenges and what will I do differently? I also revisit my annual goals to build them into the following month's goals and plan. The tools I use for planning, scheduling, tracking, and reflection are: 1. Outlook Tasks/To Do to capture my ongoing to-do's 2. Toggl, an online time tracker, to track my time 3. The ProAction Planner to plan and process my months and weeks. The planner also has a place for weekly and monthly reflection and planning.
Time Management and Productivity Coach at Alexis Haselberger Coaching and Consulting, Inc
Answered 8 months ago
I have a weekly 2 minute process whereby I track, in a spreadsheet, the things that I accomplished that week. This makes is really easy to speak to my accomplishments when needed, and when I worked for other people, even easier to do my self-review at performance review time. This is such a simple method: a single spreadsheet with accomplishments listed by week. Anyone can do it.
When working remotely or for yourself as a small business owner, a strong project management system is key to tracking your tasks and accomplishments. All of your tasks need to be connected to a project that contributes to the successful outcome of a goal; if not, it's merely a distraction. That's why having a project management system is so important; you need to be able to connect the dots and see what you have in front of you at all times in order to see progress. I rely on Notion.so as my go-to tool because its flexibility allows me to create a custom workspaces tailored to my needs.
I prefer to create a "Micro-Milestones" tracker to monitor my progress and accomplishments while working remotely. This method involves breaking down larger goals or projects into smaller, achievable tasks that can be completed in a shorter time frame. For example, if I have a goal to increase website traffic by 20%, I would set micro-milestones such as creating and publishing three new blog posts per week or launching a social media campaign every two weeks. I track every step using tools like Asana or ClickUp, where I list out all my micro-milestones, their due dates, and the status of completion. This helps me stay on track with my goals and gives me a sense of accomplishment as I complete each task. According to my experience, this method has significantly improved my productivity and success in reaching long-term goals while working remotely. I recommend implementing micro-milestones into your daily or weekly planning to keep yourself accountable and motivated toward achieving your goals. It is also a great way to track your progress over time and make any necessary adjustments if you fall behind on a certain milestone. This way, you will be able to effectively manage your workload and prioritize tasks to achieve maximum productivity.
I've spent a lot of time fine-tuning how we track progress and accomplishments in a fully remote environment-and one approach I rely on is something I call "Progress Whispering." You're probably thinking, "Progress what?" Let me explain: 1. Daily Audio Journaling Instead of the usual text-based status updates, I use brief audio recordings each day-just two minutes-to talk through what I worked on, any blockers, and next steps. It's an asynchronous way to keep the team looped in without heavy Zoom calls, and it feels more personal than a simple Slack message. Oddly enough, speaking out loud helps you catch blind spots you might miss when typing. 2. Reverse Roadmap Check-Ins We often create a forward-looking roadmap, but I also keep a "reverse roadmap" of major accomplishments. Every week, each team member adds what they completed to this living document. It's like a celebration wall-everyone can see milestones big and small. The novelty is that it reframes how we see progress: by looking back, you get a clearer sense of collective impact, which is an energy boost you can't replicate with a typical "to-do" list. 3. The Personal KPI Experiment Every quarter, each team member picks one "personal KPI" aligned with something they want to grow in-e.g., developing leadership or honing design skills. Besides tracking company metrics (like product releases or marketing conversion rates), these personal KPIs are also documented and revisited. It's interesting how having a personal goal that's visible to the team pushes accountability and fosters deeper trust. 4. The Buddy System We pair up people from different departments for bi-weekly check-ins. Think of it as "peer accountability on steroids." It's not just about deadlines; buddies help each other brainstorm solutions or share quick wins. It's also a great cross-team relationship builder. It might sound unconventional, but these methods have really driven engagement and made remote work more transparent, personal, and motivating.
Tracking progress and accomplishments while working remotely comes down to having a structured system that provides both clarity and accountability. Over the years, I've refined this process using a combination of project management tools and personal accountability practices. One tool I use consistently is Trello. I create boards that outline tasks, goals, and deadlines for each project, broken down into weekly and monthly targets. For each goal, I assign measurable outcomes to track progress, such as revenue generated, leads converted, or client deliverables completed. This method ensures nothing slips through the cracks and allows me to review progress at a glance. Additionally, I incorporate a weekly self-assessment where I take 30 minutes every Friday to evaluate my performance and realign priorities for the next week. An example of this in action is when I was helping a struggling client in the UAE during the early stages of their business. They had no clear system for tracking tasks or measuring their progress. I introduced them to a similar Trello-based workflow, customized to their specific needs, and combined it with bi-weekly accountability check-ins. Within six months, their output efficiency increased by 40 percent, their team became more aligned, and their revenue almost doubled. My background in finance and telecommunications helped me identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks quickly, and my years of coaching experience ensured I could guide them effectively. Tracking tools are essential, but combining them with consistent review and accountability is what drives real results.
As a marketing leader who has managed remote teams across multiple high-growth SaaS companies, I've found that a combination of clear goal-setting, regular check-ins, and leveraging the right productivity tools is key to tracking progress and achievements in a virtual environment. One method that has proven effective is implementing a quarterly OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework. By setting clear, measurable objectives aligned with our overall strategy, and defining the key results that indicate success, each team member has a roadmap for their individual contributions. We review progress weekly to ensure we're on track and can course-correct quickly. At LeanLaw, we used Asana to manage our OKRs and break them down into actionable tasks. We complemented this with daily stand-ups via Zoom, where each team member shared their priorities, progress, and any blockers. This kept everyone aligned and accountable, even without the in-person interactions of an office. My recommendation is to find the goal-setting and project management tools that work best for your team's needs and communication style. The key is to create transparency, maintain regular touchpoints, and celebrate wins along the way. By making progress visible and collaborative, you can keep your remote team engaged and motivated to achieve great things together.
At Marquet Media, where much of our work is done remotely, tracking progress and accomplishments is essential for maintaining efficiency and team alignment. We use a combination of Asana for task management and Google Sheets for milestone tracking. Asana allows us to assign tasks, set deadlines, and monitor project timelines in real-time. Each team member updates their progress directly within the platform, ensuring everyone has visibility into the project's status. For more significant initiatives, such as launching a new PR campaign or rolling out a branding workshop, we use a shared Google Sheet to document key accomplishments, track deliverables, and log client feedback. This dual approach balances real-time task management with a high-level view of our achievements. Additionally, we hold weekly check-ins to discuss priorities, highlight wins, and address challenges. These meetings build a sense of accountability and allow us to celebrate progress as a team. I also keep a simple "Highlights Log" in Notion, where I jot down key achievements and lessons learned weekly. This helps me reflect on what's working and identify areas for improvement. Combining collaborative tools with individual accountability ensures our team stays productive and connected, even while working remotely.
I use a combination of a Kanban board (e.g., Trello or Asana) and weekly check-ins to track my progress when working remotely. Each task goes on a digital board with clear deadlines and status labels (e.g., "To Do," "In Progress," "Done"). At the end of each week, I do a brief review-either on my own or with my team-to see what's been completed, where I got stuck, and what I need to prioritize next. This routine not only keeps me organized but also provides a clear record of my accomplishments over time.
When working remotely, I track my progress and accomplishments by focusing on KPIs, deadlines, milestones, and goals. These provide clear benchmarks for what needs to be achieved and help me stay accountable. I use tools like OneTask.me to break larger goals into smaller, trackable tasks, and I regularly update progress to ensure everything stays on schedule. At the end of each week or project, I review accomplishments against set KPIs and milestones to measure success. This structured approach keeps me organized, aligned with team objectives, and allows me to clearly showcase my contributions.
At Carepatron, we use a centralized platform to manage projects, track tasks, and document progress in real time. This ensures everyone on the team has visibility into what's being worked on and how it aligns with our larger goals. Regular team check-ins are another key part of the process. We use these meetings to share updates, celebrate wins, and ensure alignment. And while these check-ins are regular, they are by no means too constant that it borders on micromanagement. Autonomy and flexibility are huge factors we value in our work culture, allowing people to go about their day-to-day tasks without feeling like someone is breathing on their necks, while also ensuring they feel supported and can ask for help whenever needed. By combining collaborative tools with intentional planning and communication, I've found that it's possible to stay productive, track progress, and maintain a strong connection to team goals even when working remotely.
For years, I've had a folder on my computer labelled "Accomplishments" where I add screenshots of marketing metrics I've hit. I might include viral blog posts, social media posts that took off, or other screenshots. When it's time to update my resume, I often turn to that folder to showcase all that I've accomplished and include some of my screenshots onto my LinkedIn profile as evidence that something worked out. When I leave roles, I often save that folder in my email so I can access it even after leaving a company.
I have vast experience working remotely-both as an employee and a freelancer. It took me some time to learn how to track my effectiveness and ensure stable results. Building such a system is often easier when you are a remote employee since employers are just as invested in productivity as their workers. However, when freelancing, the responsibility for tracking progress and maintaining efficiency falls entirely on you. Here are two strategies that have significantly helped me. I always use a time and task tracker. For me, it is essential for accurately monitoring how long tasks take to complete. Start the timer when you begin working, and switch tasks in the tracker as you move from one to another. Any tracker will do-whether it's a free app or something you already know. Using a time tracker shows me precisely how much time I spend on each activity. It also helps me identify and eliminate wasted time. I keep an interstitial journal. This practice involves jotting down a few lines about your tasks and state of mind at the start and end of your workday, as well as when switching between projects. For me, it serves as a mental reset between projects. I briefly note how challenging or easy a task felt and what helped or hindered my productivity. Over time, this journaling revealed patterns that negatively affected my work and helped me pinpoint strategies to boost my efficiency.
Having led distributed backend teams managing LinkedIn's member data pipeline, I've processed 14.8B daily data points - here's what actually works for tracking remote productivity. Look, traditional time tracking is BS from my engineering perspective. What's worked for me managing a 16-person remote infrastructure team is our custom "Impact Documentation System" - it's a simple Git-based approach: I maintain a daily engineering log with three categories: hard metrics (performance improvements, error rate reductions), project milestones, and learning insights. Each entry links directly to relevant PRs, monitoring dashboards, or architecture docs. This has been crucial for my team's success in shipping LinkedIn's new real-time notification system. Real talk from the senior eng trenches - forget about fancy productivity apps. Create a private GitHub repo (I use a specific template I've refined over 8 years), commit daily highlights in markdown, and use GitHub Actions to generate weekly/monthly summaries. The key is linking everything to concrete metrics and artifacts. I can slice my impact by project, quarter, or technical domain with a simple grep. When promotion time comes around, I have a searchable database of every optimization, architecture decision, and team impact.
I discovered that combining Trello for project tracking with a simple Google Sheet I call my 'Impact Log' helps me document both quantitative metrics (like SEO improvements for our surgeon clients) and qualitative wins (like positive patient testimonials). Each morning, I spend 10 minutes updating these tools while having my coffee, which keeps me accountable and helps me spot trends in what's working best for our clients.
I use Asana to track my marketing campaigns and team achievements, setting up boards for each project where I log daily progress, metrics, and wins - it's been a game-changer for staying organized remotely. Every Friday, I take 30 minutes to update my 'Wins Journal' in Google Docs, recording both big victories (like hitting our email campaign targets) and small wins (like positive team feedback), which helps me stay motivated and prepared for performance reviews.
I like to set big picture objectives and break them down into smaller goals. For example, if the big objective is launching a new feature, I need to clearly see how we'll get there. Therefore, I break it down into multiple milestones, for instance, completing beta testing or drawing up a marketing campaign. These smaller goals can further be broken down into more concrete tasks. This way, I take small steps to reach the end objective. Of course, using a project management tool helps a lot since it structures all of these components and visualizes them, making it easier for me to comprehend what needs to be done and assess how well I'm progressing. I also keep a personal dashboard in Notion. It contains all the documentation related to challenges and achievements. These, in turn, help me learn how to optimize processes better, so that future projects go smoothly.
Staying Aligned and Celebrating Wins in Alliance with Microsoft Tools As the founder of a legal process outsourcing company operating remotely, tracking progress and accomplishments is critical for team success. Personally, I rely on a combination of Microsoft Office tools and simple, consistent routines. For instance, I use Excel to maintain a progress tracker for key company goals, updated weekly during our team check-ins. Additionally, I encourage my team to document their milestones in shared OneNote pages, which serve as living journals for tasks and accomplishments. This practice keeps everyone aligned and fosters a sense of accountability. Early in my journey, I learned the importance of celebrating small wins when we successfully delivered a high-volume redaction project ahead of time. Highlighting that achievement in our tracker motivated the team and reassured our client of our capabilities. These tools and moments of reflection have helped us stay organized and motivated in a remote setting.
I've set up an automated system using Python scripts that pulls data from GitHub and our AI platforms to generate daily progress reports for TinderProfile.ai and EasyTutor. Each evening, I review these metrics alongside my personal Notion workspace where I document learning moments, coding breakthroughs, and user success stories - this combination of quantitative and qualitative tracking keeps me aligned with both technical and business objectives.
I started using a mix of our POS system data and a daily digital log where my staff records both victories and challenges, from exceptional customer feedback to kitchen efficiency improvements. Every morning, I review these metrics remotely through my phone, which lets me celebrate wins with the team and quickly address any issues, even when I'm bouncing between our two restaurants.