Inspired by Google Snippets

Google's internal "Snippets" tool was a simple, plain-text internal status-sharing system used by employees to share their weekly accomplishments and upcoming plans with teammates and managers.

Function and Purpose

• Weekly Updates: The tool prompted Googlers every Monday to submit their accomplishments from the previous week and their forecasted work for the current week.
• Transparency and Context: The updates were compiled into an internally accessible webpage and an email digest, fostering company-wide transparency and providing a shared context for team discussions.
• Efficiency: By providing status updates ahead of time, teams could have more focused and productive meetings, reducing the need for time-consuming verbal fact-reporting.
• Simplicity: A key feature was its simplicity: it was essentially just a textbox where employees could write updates in their own format, without rigid constraints or complex dashboards for managers.

Legacy

While the original internal tool may no longer be in use or has evolved, its core concept of bottom-up, transparent status updates was influential. The idea was adopted by other tech companies like Foursquare, and some ex-Google employees have developed external replacements or adopted simple methods like using a Google Doc to replicate the functionality.

Note: It is important to note that this internal tool is different from the public-facing "snippets" (such as featured snippets or rich snippets) that appear on Google's public search results pages, which are automated descriptions or answers generated from website content for search users.

What is WeekBlast?

WeekBlast is a modern reimagining of the classic "Snippets" concept. It is designed to be the ultimate productivity tool for teams that want to stay in sync without the overhead of daily standups or complex project management software.

We've taken the core idea of weekly status updates and supercharged it with features built for the modern remote workflow.

Key Features

• The Composer: One single rich formatted textarea where you can modify your current week's snippet/blast. Each week's update is called a "blast".
• History: A way to see your old blasts in a list from newest to oldest.
• Coworker Feed: View your coworkers' updates in a list or grid view. Toggle between views to see what works best for you.
• Profile: Edit your info, change your settings, and view your stats dashboard with streak counts and total blasts submitted.
• Email Integration: Email [email protected] to create and append to your current week's blast effortlessly.