Write a weekly status update for leadership
Drop in your raw notes, ticket exports or a list of what happened. Get a crisp update: progress, risks, decisions needed — in under 250 words.
How to use it
- Dump everything you have Notes, Slack scraps, an export from your tracker — messy is fine.
- Name the audience A CEO wants outcomes and risks; a team wants details.
- Check the asks The "decisions needed" section is what leaders act on. Make sure it is right.
The prompt
Write my weekly status update.
Project or team: [PROJECT_NAME]
Audience: [AUDIENCE]
This week's raw notes: [WEEKLY_NOTES]
Format, under 250 words:
- One-sentence overall status with a colour: Green, Yellow or Red.
- Progress: three bullets, outcomes not activities.
- Risks: what could go wrong, how likely, what we are doing about it.
- Decisions or help needed: explicit asks with a deadline.
- Next week: top three priorities.
Use plain words, no jargon or filler. Do not add facts that are not in my notes; if a date or owner is missing, flag it with a question at the end.
Example result
Mobile app v2 — Status: 🟡 Yellow. Login is live for 10% of users; checkout blockers and a staffing gap put the November release at risk.
Progress
- New login shipped to 10% of users with no rise in crashes; onboarding survey scores 4.2/5.
- Settings design is finished and ready for build.
- QA found an Android image-gallery performance bug; fix estimated at about 3 days.
Risks
- Checkout has 3 open blockers (2 backend). Likelihood high that they delay QA sign-off. Backend is prioritising them this week.
- One developer leaves for another project on Monday. Capacity drops about 15%; no replacement planned yet.
Decision needed by Friday: cut the referral feature or move the release to 5 December. Recommendation: cut referral and keep November.
Next week
- Close the three checkout blockers.
- Fix the Android gallery bug.
- Roll login out to 50% of users.
Questions: what is the exact date of the developer's departure, and who owns the backend blockers?