Front-loads the one thing that changed, states what's at risk without hedging, and makes the ask explicit — so the person who reads only the first line still gets it.
Turn this into a status update for {{AUDIENCE}}. RAW: {{RAW}} Format, in this order: **Line one.** The single most important change since last time. If someone reads nothing else, this is what they need. No preamble. **Status.** On track / at risk / off track. Pick one. If at risk or off track, the next sentence is the reason, not the mitigation. **What moved.** Three bullets maximum, each an outcome rather than an activity. "Checkout flow is live for 10% of traffic", not "worked on checkout". **What I need.** The specific ask, with a name and a date, or the words "nothing right now". Never leave this section vague. **What I'm watching.** One risk, and the signal that would tell us it's real. Rules: - Do not hedge the status. "Mostly on track" is off track. - Do not list activity. If it produced no outcome, leave it out. - Do not bury a blocker in the third bullet. It goes in line one. - Keep the whole thing under 150 words.
Tools for this prompt
Where the input below comes from. The ones marked needed change the output a lot — fallbacks for each are further down.
This prompt is only as good as what you feed it. Web search covers anything public — these are the inputs it can't reach.
The issue list, so 'what moved' is outcomes rather than what you remember doing.
Don't have it: Ask the user to paste their list; note it may be less complete than the tracker.
The same at larger companies.
Don't have it: Ask the user to paste their list instead.
Only tools that web search cannot replace are listed. Anything public — reviews, job ads, papers, salary data — an agent can already fetch, so it is not listed here. No paid placements or affiliate links; if that changes, this line will say so.
A prompt is a skill with the serial numbers filed off. Install it once and your agent reaches for it on its own.
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or whatever you use:
Install the status-update-that-survives-skimming skill globally from https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/status-update-that-survives-skimming/skill.md.claude/skills/status-update-that-survives-skimming/SKILL.md
---
name: status-update-that-survives-skimming
description: "Front-loads the one thing that changed, states what's at risk without hedging, and makes the ask explicit — so the person who reads only the first line still gets it. Use when the user asks for help with product tasks like communication, async, status."
license: CC-BY-4.0
metadata:
source: https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/status-update-that-survives-skimming
author: "Rony"
version: "1.0"
---
# A status update that survives being skimmed
Front-loads the one thing that changed, states what's at risk without hedging, and makes the ask explicit — so the person who reads only the first line still gets it.
## Inputs to collect first
Ask the user for anything below that they have not already given you. Do not
invent values for these.
- `RAW` — What happened, in whatever order it comes out. Tickets, notes, Slack. (e.g. Paste your notes for the week.)
- `AUDIENCE` — Who reads it and what they'll do with it. (e.g. VP Eng, who'll skim on a phone between meetings and only act if something's blocked.)
## Tools this works with
Do not require any of these. If one is unavailable, use the stated fallback and
say which input is missing rather than inventing it.
- **Linear** — The issue list, so 'what moved' is outcomes rather than what you remember doing.
- Without it: Ask the user to paste their list; note it may be less complete than the tracker.
- https://linear.app/
- **Jira** — The same at larger companies.
- Without it: Ask the user to paste their list instead.
- https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
## Instructions
Turn this into a status update for {{AUDIENCE}}.
RAW:
{{RAW}}
Format, in this order:
**Line one.** The single most important change since last time. If someone
reads nothing else, this is what they need. No preamble.
**Status.** On track / at risk / off track. Pick one. If at risk or off track,
the next sentence is the reason, not the mitigation.
**What moved.** Three bullets maximum, each an outcome rather than an activity.
"Checkout flow is live for 10% of traffic", not "worked on checkout".
**What I need.** The specific ask, with a name and a date, or the words
"nothing right now". Never leave this section vague.
**What I'm watching.** One risk, and the signal that would tell us it's real.
Rules:
- Do not hedge the status. "Mostly on track" is off track.
- Do not list activity. If it produced no outcome, leave it out.
- Do not bury a blocker in the third bullet. It goes in line one.
- Keep the whole thing under 150 words.
## Notes from people who use this
- 'The reason, not the mitigation' is the rule people break. Leading with the fix hides how bad it is.
- Keep the format identical week to week — the diff between updates becomes the real signal.
- If 'what I need' is always 'nothing', either you're stuck and not saying so, or you don't need the update.
---
A status update that survives being skimmed · by Rony · v1.0
From PromptsBuddy — https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/status-update-that-survives-skimming
Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Every prompt is also available at /prompts/status-update-that-survives-skimming/skill.md — see all install options.
Status updates are read on phones, between meetings, by people scanning for whether they have to do anything. Anything that matters and is not in the first two lines effectively was not communicated.
It is the most common status in existence and it carries no information — it means "off track but I don't want to say so yet." Forcing a three-way choice makes the update actionable, and makes the eventual bad news arrive earlier, which is when it is still cheap.
For when the date won't move. Sorts the plan into what ships, what waits, and what quietly gets cancelled — and names what breaks for users in each case.
Lena FischerSeparates what was decided from what was merely discussed, attributes owners, and flags the open questions everyone left the room assuming someone else would answer.
Lena Fischer