I’m coaching two junior PMs on a 26-week CDs phase and want a simple way to build timeline ownership without killing morale. If you’ve used weekly wins and a visible critical-path board (we’re in Smartsheet) to turn misses into learning goals and keep momentum, what prompts land in your 15-minute Monday stand-ups?
I have them name one critical-path task and answer: “What single conversation are you having today to protect this date, and what will make it green by Friday?” If they can’t name it, we treat it as a 24‑hour blocker and pair them with a buddy to draft the outreach — want to try that as your Monday opener?
Quick tweak that’s worked for me: each PM calls their earliest risk and answers, “what would make this late, and what protection move happens before noon?” In Smartsheet we add a simple ‘buffer burned?’ checkbox on the critical-path row and track no-burn Fridays as the weekly win — if you’ve got vendor dependencies in CDs, would a Monday proof‑of‑contact screenshot keep the board honest, or is that overkill?