AI Guide: Creating Weekly Development Summaries

Overview

This SOP provides instructions for AI assistants on how to create comprehensive weekly development summaries that translate technical work into business-focused executive reports. These summaries complement daily development logs by providing strategic context and quantified business impact analysis.

When to Create Weekly Summaries

Create a weekly summary when: - A significant development cycle has completed (typically end of week) - Multiple related projects have reached completion or major milestones - Executive reporting is required for business stakeholders - Strategic planning requires analysis of development velocity and impact

File Structure

Weekly summaries are stored alongside daily logs:

docs/log/YYYY-MM-DD-week-end-summary.md

Example: 2025-08-25-week-end-summary.md

Step-by-Step Process

1. Data Gathering Phase

Before writing, collect comprehensive metrics:

Git Statistics

# Get commit count for the week
git log --oneline --since="YYYY-MM-DD" --until="YYYY-MM-DD" | wc -l

# Get lines of code statistics
git log --numstat --pretty=format:"" --since="YYYY-MM-DD" --until="YYYY-MM-DD" | awk '{added+=$1; removed+=$2} END {print "Lines added: " added "\nLines removed: " removed "\nNet change: " (added-removed)}'

# List all commits for reference
git log --pretty=format:"%h %s" --since="YYYY-MM-DD" --until="YYYY-MM-DD"

Pull Request Analysis

# Get PRs created during the week
gh pr list --state all --json number,title,createdAt --jq '.[] | select(.createdAt >= "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ" and .createdAt <= "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ") | "#\(.number) - \(.title) (\(.createdAt[:10]))"'

Documentation Statistics

# Count new documentation files
find docs/ -name "*.md" -newer docs/log/YYYY-MM-DD.md | wc -l

# Get total word count of new documentation
find docs/ -name "*.md" -newer docs/log/YYYY-MM-DD.md -exec wc -w {} + | tail -1

2. Standard Template

# Week-End Summary - [Month DD-DD, YYYY]

## Executive Summary

[2-3 sentence high-level summary positioning the week's work within strategic business context]

## Development Metrics

### Code Production Statistics
- **Total Commits**: [X] commits across [Y] days
- **Lines of Code**: [X] net lines added ([Y] added, [Z] removed)
- **Pull Requests**: [X] PRs created and merged ([Y]% merge rate)
- **Documentation**: [X] new pages created totaling [Y] words

### Project Velocity
- **Daily Average**: [X] commits per day, [Y] lines per day
- **Documentation Rate**: [X] words per day of technical documentation
- **Integration Success**: [Success metrics and deployment statistics]

## Business Impact Analysis

### 1. [Major Project Name]
**Strategic Objective**: [Clear business goal this project serves]

**Business Impact**:
- **[Impact Category]**: [Quantified benefit and explanation]
- **[Impact Category]**: [Quantified benefit and explanation]
- **[Impact Category]**: [Quantified benefit and explanation]

**Technical Deliverables**:
- [Concrete deliverable with business context]
- [Concrete deliverable with business context]
- [Concrete deliverable with business context]

### 2. [Additional Projects following same format]

## Strategic Architecture Improvements

### [Architecture Change Category]
[Description of systematic improvements and their strategic value]

## Quality and Reliability Metrics

### System Reliability
- **Deployment Success Rate**: [X]% ([successful]/[total] deployments)
- **Bug Resolution Time**: Average [X] hours from identification to deployment
- **Documentation Coverage**: [Coverage assessment]

### Code Quality
- **Review Process**: [X]% of code changes went through pull request review
- **Testing Integration**: [Testing coverage and quality measures]
- **Documentation Alignment**: [Alignment between code and documentation]

## Risk Assessment and Mitigation

### Technical Risks Addressed
- **[Risk Category]**: [How this week's work mitigated specific technical risks]

### Business Risks Mitigated  
- **[Risk Category]**: [How this week's work mitigated specific business risks]

## Financial Impact Projections

### Cost Savings
- **[Category]**: Estimated $[X] annually in [specific cost reduction]
- **[Category]**: [X]% improvement in [efficiency metric]

### Revenue Enablement  
- **[Category]**: [Quantified capability improvement]
- **[Category]**: [Market positioning or competitive advantage]

## Next Phase Priorities

### Immediate (Next Week)
1. **[Priority]**: [Specific actionable item]
2. **[Priority]**: [Specific actionable item]

### Strategic (Next Month)
1. **[Priority]**: [Longer-term strategic initiative]
2. **[Priority]**: [Longer-term strategic initiative]

## Conclusion

[2-3 paragraphs synthesizing the week's work into strategic business narrative, emphasizing value creation and forward momentum]

**Key Success Factors**:
- **[Factor]**: [Why this contributed to success]
- **[Factor]**: [Why this contributed to success]
- **[Factor]**: [Why this contributed to success]

[Final paragraph positioning this development cycle within broader business trajectory]

3. Content Guidelines

Executive Summary Rules

• Business-First Language: Use business terminology, not technical jargon
• Strategic Context: Position work within broader company objectives
• Quantified Impact: Lead with measurable business outcomes

Business Impact Analysis Framework

For each major project, answer: 1. What business problem does this solve? 2. What quantifiable benefits does it provide? 3. How does this improve competitive positioning? 4. What operational efficiencies are gained?

Financial Impact Quantification

• Cost Savings: Specific dollar amounts and timeframes
• Efficiency Gains: Percentage improvements in key metrics
• Revenue Enablement: Capacity increases and market opportunities
• Risk Reduction: Quantified risk mitigation value

Risk Assessment Categories

• Technical Risks: Infrastructure, scalability, maintenance
• Business Risks: Market, operational, regulatory, competitive
• Mitigation Evidence: Specific work that addresses each risk

4. Quality Standards

Quantification Requirements

• All claims must be supported by specific metrics
• Use conservative estimates when projecting benefits
• Provide ranges when exact numbers aren't available
• Reference specific commits/PRs for technical claims

Business Language Standards

• Avoid: "Fixed bug", "Refactored code", "Updated documentation"
• Use: "Resolved production issue affecting client experience", "Improved system architecture for scalability", "Enhanced knowledge management capabilities"

Strategic Positioning

• Connect technical work to business objectives
• Demonstrate understanding of competitive landscape
• Show progression toward strategic goals
• Highlight compound benefits of systematic improvements

5. Navigation Updates

Add weekly summaries to log navigation:

Update docs/log/index.md:

## Recent Entries

- **[YYYY-MM-DD Week-End Summary](YYYY-MM-DD-week-end-summary.md)** - [Brief business-focused description]

Update docs/log/.pages:

nav:
    - Overview: index.md
    - [Month] [Year]:
        - YYYY-MM-DD-week-end-summary.md
        - [other daily logs]

Business Impact Categories Reference

Common Impact Categories

• Operational Efficiency: Process improvements, automation, time savings
• Cost Optimization: Infrastructure savings, reduced manual overhead
• Risk Mitigation: Security, reliability, compliance improvements
• Scalability: Capacity increases, performance improvements
• Revenue Enablement: New capabilities, market opportunities
• Competitive Advantage: Technical differentiation, market positioning
• Quality Assurance: Error reduction, reliability improvements
• Knowledge Management: Documentation, process standardization

Quantification Methods

• Time Savings: Hours/week saved × hourly cost × 52 weeks
• Infrastructure Costs: Current costs - projected costs
• Error Reduction: Previous error rate × cost per error × reduction %
• Capacity Increases: Previous capacity ÷ new capacity = multiplier
• Development Velocity: Previous cycle time ÷ new cycle time = improvement %

Integration with Daily Logs

Daily Log Focus

• Technical implementation details
• Specific commits and changes
• Immediate problem-solving
• Feature development progress

Weekly Summary Focus

• Business value creation
• Strategic positioning
• Financial impact analysis
• Risk mitigation assessment
• Forward-looking planning

Complementary Relationship

Weekly summaries should: - Reference daily logs for technical details - Synthesize daily work into strategic narrative - Provide business context for technical decisions - Connect individual changes to broader objectives

Quality Checklist

Before completing a weekly summary, verify:

• All metrics are accurate and sourced from git/PR data
• Business impacts are quantified with specific benefits
• Financial projections are conservative and justified
• Risk analysis addresses both technical and business dimensions
• Language is business-focused, not technically focused
• Strategic context connects work to company objectives
• Navigation updated in both log/index.md and log/.pages
• Conclusion synthesizes work into coherent business narrative
• Next phase priorities are specific and actionable

Example Usage

For reference implementation, see: - /docs/log/2025-08-25-week-end-summary.md - Complete example following this template - /docs/guides/AI-SOPs/development-log-sop.md - Daily log procedures that feed into weekly summaries

Cross-Repository Application

This SOP can be applied to any software development repository by:

1. Adapting File Structure: Adjust paths to match target repository's documentation structure
2. Customizing Business Context: Replace business impact categories with those relevant to the target project
3. Modifying Metrics: Adjust git commands and statistics gathering for the target repository's workflow
4. Contextualizing Language: Use terminology and strategic objectives appropriate to the target business domain

The core methodology remains consistent across repositories while allowing for project-specific customization.