How to Stop Chasing Employees for Updates

By Nicole Hullihen, former SaaS Chief Operating Officer and Microsoft MVP · Updated October 13, 2026

"Where are we on this?" If you send that message more than a few times a day, you're not alone. For many owners and managers, chasing updates quietly becomes a second job: texting, emailing, stopping by desks and sitting in meetings that exist only to find out what's done. It eats your time, it frustrates your team, and it still leaves you guessing.

The good news is that chasing updates is a system problem, not a people problem. When status is hidden, you have to ask. When status is visible, you don't. This guide covers why it happens and nine fixes that make updates come to you.

Why You End Up Chasing Updates

Every one of these is fixable without hiring a project manager or adding more meetings.

Fix 1: Give Every Task One Owner

A task with two owners has none. Assign one person to every task, even when several people help. The owner doesn't have to do all the work; they're the person who knows the status and speaks for it. When someone asks "where are we?", there's exactly one name to look at. Tools like a RASCI chart make ownership explicit for bigger projects.

Fix 2: Put a Due Date on Everything

"When you get a chance" is the root of most follow-ups. A task without a due date can't be late, so the only way to know if it's on track is to ask. Agree on a date when the work is assigned, and if the date needs to move, the owner moves it and says why. A date that changes in the open is far better than one that quietly passes.

Fix 3: Keep All Work in One Place

If status lives in five places, you'll check five places, or you'll just ask. Pick one shared system for tasks and projects and make it the single source of truth. A quick test: if you can't answer "what's overdue right now?" in under a minute without messaging anyone, your work is too spread out.

Fix 4: Use Simple, Visible Statuses

Five statuses cover almost everything:

"Blocked" is the most important one. It turns a hidden problem into a visible request for help, and it's the status you actually need to act on.

Fix 5: Agree on a Weekly Update Rhythm

Predictable beats constant. One short weekly check-in, same day and time, replaces dozens of random "any update?" messages. Use it to review what's overdue and blocked, not to read through every task. See the weekly vs. bi-weekly meeting guide to choose the right cadence, and the Level 10 meeting template for a format that stays on track.

Fix 6: Make Updates Take Two Minutes

People avoid updates that feel like homework. Give them a template short enough to fill out from a phone:

The "blocked or at risk" line does the heavy lifting. It invites people to raise problems early, when they're still easy to fix.

Fix 7: Reward Early Bad News

If people get criticized for raising a problem, they'll stop raising problems, and you'll find out the hard way. Thank people who flag risks early, even when the news is bad. A simple "thanks for telling me now, what do you need?" teaches the whole team that surfacing issues is part of the job. Over time, this does more to end chasing than any tool.

Fix 8: Define "Done" Up Front

A lot of follow-up happens because "done" was never defined. Is the proposal done when it's drafted, reviewed or sent to the client? When you assign work, say what finished looks like: "Done means the client has the signed contract." Clear finish lines remove a whole category of "is it done yet?" questions.

Fix 9: Let a Dashboard Do the Asking

The end goal is a view that shows status without anyone writing a report: what's on track, what's overdue, what's blocked, and who owns each item. When status updates itself as work happens, your follow-ups shrink to the few items that actually need you. Updoot's KPI dashboard is built around that idea: managers spend less time chasing status because the status is always visible.

Scripts for When You Do Need to Follow Up

Even with good systems, you'll sometimes need to check in. These keep it respectful and specific:

Notice what's missing: "Any update?" Open-ended questions get vague answers. Specific questions get specific answers.

Before and After

How Long Does It Take to Fix?

Most teams feel the difference within a month. Week one: assign owners and due dates to everything open. Week two: move all tasks into one place and start using the five statuses. Week three: start the weekly check-in and the update template. Week four: review what's still causing follow-ups and fix the gaps. Expect some resistance at first; once people notice they get asked fewer questions, they usually become the system's biggest fans.

Common Mistakes When Fixing Status Updates

• Adding more meetings. More meetings create more updates to chase, not fewer.
• Buying a tool without changing habits. Software helps only if every task has an owner and a date.
• Tracking everything. Track work that matters. A to-do list for every small task becomes noise.
• Using updates to micromanage. The goal is visibility, not watching every minute.
• Skipping the follow-through. If overdue items never get discussed, dates stop meaning anything.

What Good Status Visibility Looks Like

Picture opening one screen on Monday morning and knowing, in under a minute, where every important piece of work stands. No texts, no digging through email threads, no "quick sync" on the calendar. That's the target. In practice it means four things are true for every task that matters:

• It has one owner, and you can see their name next to it.
• It has a due date, and the date is current, not the one set three weeks ago.
• It has a status that the owner updates as work moves, not just before meetings.
• Blocked work stands out, so the few items that need your help are impossible to miss.

When those four things are in place, your role shifts from collecting information to acting on it. You spend your time removing blockers and making decisions instead of asking questions.

How to Roll This Out to Your Team

Changing how a team shares updates works best when people understand why. A short kickoff conversation goes a long way:

Then follow a few simple rules for the first month:

1. Check the shared view before asking anyone. If you still message people for updates, the team will learn the system is optional.
2. Ask about the system, not the person. "The board shows this as due yesterday" lands better than "you're late."
3. Respond fast to blocked items. If marking something blocked gets quick help, people will use it.
4. Keep the weekly check-in short. Fifteen to thirty minutes focused on exceptions shows the new way saves time.
5. Ask for feedback at the end of the month. Adjust statuses, templates or timing based on what the team says.

Chasing Updates on Remote and Field Teams

When people aren't in the same building, you can't stop by a desk to see how things are going, so the temptation to message constantly gets stronger. Remote and field teams benefit even more from visible status:

• Make updating mobile-friendly. Field crews and people on the road should be able to change a status from their phone in a few taps.
• Agree on response windows. For example, blocked items get a reply within two hours during work hours, and everything else waits for the weekly check-in.
• Use time zones on purpose. Ask for updates at the end of each person's day so they're ready when the next shift or time zone starts.
• Pair status with time records. For hourly field teams, seeing who's clocked in and where can answer "who's on that job?" without a phone call. See how to track employee hours.

Status Updates for Different Roles

Keep the format the same across roles, done, next and blocked, and let the content change. A consistent format makes updates faster to write and faster to read.

How to Tell If It's Working

Track a few simple signals for the first couple of months:

• How many "any update?" messages you send in a week.
• How many tasks are overdue without a new date.
• How often problems surface before the deadline rather than on it.
• How long your weekly check-in takes.

If those numbers drop, the system is working. If they don't, look for the gap: usually it's a missing owner, a missing date or work that still lives outside the shared view.

A Simple Weekly Check-In Agenda

Once status is visible, the weekly check-in gets shorter and more useful. A 20-minute format that works for most small teams:

End every check-in by reading the action items out loud. A follow-up that has an owner and a date before people leave the room is one you won't have to chase later.

Stop Chasing Updates With Updoot

Updoot's project management gives every task a clear owner and due date, and shows what's in progress, blocked and overdue across every department in one view, as a table, calendar, Kanban board or timeline. Meeting agendas end with assigned action items, so commitments from the weekly check-in don't disappear. The KPI dashboard rolls it all up so you can see where things stand without sending a single "any update?" message.

Frequently Asked Questions