Why a Roblox engineering exec sends a weekly recap email to the CEO

• A weekly email keeps leadership aligned and cuts down on meetings, said a Roblox engineering exec.
• Sebastian Barrios uses the email to free up one-on-ones with his CEO for strategic conversations.
• He also shares it with his team to keep everyone focused on priorities.

In an age where meetings multiply and inboxes overflow, a weekly recap email can help save time and keep leadership aligned. A senior engineering exec at Roblox swears by it.

Sebastian Barrios, a senior vice president of engineering at the gaming platform, said he sends his CEO a weekly email outlining his accomplishments, what's next on his plate, and where he needs help.

"It helps me keep track of what's working, what's not working," Barrios said on an episode of "Lenny's Podcast" published Sunday. "I don't actually have an expectation that people are going to send that to me — it's something I do myself," he added.

He said it's a simple habit that has freed up one-on-one meetings for higher-level strategy instead of routine check-ins.

Barrios also said he sends this weekly email to his broader team to keep everyone aligned on priorities.

"I usually also get feedback on those emails or help, or saying like, 'Well, let's talk about this and that,'" he said. It can help the team solve problems together, he added.

"It's strange that I haven't heard a lot of people doing it," he said.

Barrios did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

A fix for bad one-on-ones?

Barrios might be onto something.

Many one-on-one meetings are being done wrong, an organizational psychologist told Business Insider last year.

Too often, one-on-one meetings become status updates dominated by the manager, missing the point entirely, said Steven G. Rogelberg, who's also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

"That's not the goal of these things. Because that serves the manager's needs," he said.

Rogelberg said one-on-one meetings were designed to meet workers' tactical and personal needs. Digging into personal needs means saying things such as "Tell me more," so a boss could understand what a worker might need help with beyond a to-do list.

But bosses were often skipping past the personal because that would take more work, he said.