status-updates

# Status Updates Playbook

Guidelines for writing team updates that are easy to scan, honest about challenges, and generous with recognition.

## Philosophy

- **Outcomes first** - Lead with results and impact, not activity; tie to goals/OKRs
- **Scannable** - Emoji-anchored sections, bullet points, short paragraphs
- **Quantify** - Metrics, deltas, dates, owners—show progress with numbers
- **Honest** - Acknowledge challenges directly, then reframe with context
- **Warm** - Credit individuals by name, use inclusive language
- **Evidence-backed** - Link to production, docs, metrics to show not tell
- **Close the loop** - Note delta from last update and what's next

## Quick Reference

| Task | Guide |
|------|-------|
| Voice and tone patterns | [tone-profile.md](tone-profile.md) |
| PR evidence gathering | [pr-evidence.md](pr-evidence.md) |

## When to Use

- Team or stakeholder progress updates
- Manager/exec communications
- Slack channel announcements
- Sprint summaries or retrospectives
- Launch communications

## Intake Questions

Ask these before drafting to ensure the update hits the right notes:

**Essential:**

- Audience & channel (manager, exec, peers? email, Slack, doc?)
- Time window (which two weeks? tie to OKRs/roadmap item?)
- Desired outcome (inform, influence decision, unblock, build trust?)

**Evidence gathering:**

- GitHub username (to pull authored PRs from past 14 days)
- Impact evidence (metrics, user/business outcomes, shipped artifacts?)

**Framing:**

- Risks/blockers (what needs escalation, by when?)
- Length/tone preference (bullets vs paragraph, RAG color?)

**Recognition:**

- Glue work to highlight (reviews, incidents, mentoring, docs, coordination?)
- Who to thank or spotlight?

If details are missing, ask concise clarifying questions before drafting.

## Core Patterns

### Structure

1. **Friendly hook** (optional): Seasonal reference or greeting
2. **Section headers**: Emoji prefix + bold title
3. **Bullet points**: Outcome-first,