Begin with the plan you actually agreed
Bring last week’s intended outcome and commitments. What was completed, what changed and what did not happen? Describe the work before judging the person. “Three interviews happened; two were cancelled” gives you more to discuss than “research went badly.”
Do not turn a review into a performance score based on visible busyness. Ask which work moved the next decision forward and which activity created more tasks without useful learning.
Keep a short evidence and surprise log
Write three things: an observation, what you think it means, and an alternative explanation. If a pilot participant leaves, you may suspect a weak product, but an unrelated deadline could also explain it. Name what you would need to learn before choosing between explanations.
Record what contradicted the plan. A decision journal is most useful when it preserves what you believed at the time, including uncertainty, rather than rewriting the story after an outcome is known.
Talk about friction without assigning motives
Choose a specific event: a missed handoff, unclear decision or overloaded responsibility. Ask what information or support was missing. Agree on a change you can observe next week. “Post a short status note before the Thursday handoff” is clearer than “communicate better.”
If a commitment repeatedly exceeds available time, revisit the capacity plan. If nobody owns the result, revisit the responsibility map. A planning worksheet cannot resolve every relationship conflict; take serious concerns outside the routine task review.
Choose one outcome and a review point
Write what you will do, why, who owns it and what would cause you to reconsider. Keep the next outcome small enough for the time available. Put other ideas in a parking list instead of treating every discussion as a new commitment.
Example: “Run three more interviews with organisers who handled late registrations; review their current workaround on Friday.” That creates a clear learning loop without pretending the team has already validated an entire business.
Keep notes privately if they contain personal or commercial information. Download only what you intend to retain, and agree before sharing another person’s comments.