Stakeholder Update Message
Write a concise, professional stakeholder update message for Slack or email.
Process
1. Gather context
Understand what the user wants to communicate. The source can be anything:
- An epic or set of tickets from your ticket tracker or project management tool (fetch via your project tracker integration if available)
- A conversation summary or decision outcome
- A project milestone, blocker, or risk
- A release status or go/no-go decision
- Anything the user describes or provides
If the context is about tracked work (epic, sprint, tickets), fetch the relevant data to understand the full picture. If it's about a decision, event, or general update, work from what the user provides.
2. Understand the audience and purpose
Before drafting, identify:
- Who is receiving this (team, management, cross-functional stakeholders, external partners)
- What they need to know (status, decision, blocker, request for input, FYI)
- What action is expected from them (none, approval, input, awareness)
If unclear, ask the user briefly before drafting.
3. Draft the message
Tone: Professional, direct, confident. Not corporate fluff. Written as a real person talking to colleagues.
Structure: Flowing text with minimal formatting. Use bold for section headers only when they add clarity. Avoid:
- Bullet-point walls
- Listing every ticket or task individually
- Project management jargon (sprint velocity, story points, epics)
- Over-explaining what's obvious
Content flow:
- One-line context -- what this is about
- Background -- what led to this update (kept brief, only what the reader needs)
- The substance -- grouped by theme, not by ticket or task. Summarize what matters in plain language. Keep it to 3-4 groups max.
- Framing -- set expectations on effort, timeline, or impact
- Dependencies or asks -- who needs to do what
- Next steps -- where to find details, when to expect the next update, offer to discuss
Key principles:
- Lead with the conclusion, not the process
- Group by business theme, not by task or ticket
- Say what needs to happen, not what the task title says
- Name people/teams who own dependencies
- One link to a tracking board or document is enough -- don't link every item
- Keep it under 200 words if possible
4. Iterate with the user
Expect the user to refine. Common feedback patterns:
- "Too many details" -- consolidate, remove granularity
- "More professional" -- drop casual language, tighten sentences
- "Less bullet points" -- convert to flowing paragraphs
- "Add context about X" -- weave it in naturally, don't bolt on a section
- "Shorter" -- cut to the essentials, assume more shared context
When iterating, apply the feedback and present the full updated message. Don't ask clarifying questions unless the feedback is genuinely ambiguous.
Example output style
Hey -- update on [topic]. We've [done what / looked into what / decided what], and here's where we are. Theme A -- what's happening, what needs to happen. Who's on it. Theme B -- what's happening. What we need from [person/team]. Theme C -- what's happening. [Effort/timeline framing]. [Key dependency or ask]. [Where to find details]. [Next checkpoint]. Happy to discuss.
Anti-patterns to avoid
- Starting with "I hope this message finds you well" or similar filler
- Restating an entire document or epic description
- Including task/ticket IDs inline (a single link is enough)
- Writing a wall of bullet points that reads like a board export
- Over-qualifying statements ("we believe", "it seems like", "potentially")
- Adding a summary section at the end that repeats the message
- Using project management jargon the audience doesn't care about
Integration with Other Skills
| Situation | Recommended Skill |
|---|---|
| When generating a full project report instead of a message | report-writer |
| When writing a PR description, not a stakeholder message | pr-message-writer |
| When planning sprint goals to reference in the update | scrum |