Purpose
Turn scattered project notes, blockers, and wins into a single, scannable stakeholder update that reads clearly for peers running the work and for executives approving it — with the right level of detail per function and a clear ask attached to every decision.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a weekly or monthly project status update for multiple teams
- Prepare a cross-functional update spanning Sales, Finance, Marketing, and Supply Chain
- Turn messy notes or a working doc into a polished stakeholder communication
- Draft a steering-committee or leadership update that needs decisions or approvals
- Communicate a blocker or slipped timeline without triggering panic
- Roll up a project's status for both peers and senior leadership in one document
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Project/initiative name and goal: What it is and the outcome it's driving toward
- Reporting period: The window this update covers (e.g., week of, month, sprint)
- Audience: Peers, senior leadership, or mixed — and which functions are involved
- Progress since last update: What moved forward, what shipped, what's on track
- Blockers and risks: What's stuck, what's at risk, and any dependency waiting on someone
- Decisions or approvals needed: Anything requiring a stakeholder to act, decide, or unblock
- Key metrics or milestones: Numbers, dates, or targets tied to the project
If audience is unspecified, default to a mixed audience (peers + leadership) and lead with an executive summary. If a function has no relevant activity this period, note it as "No change" rather than omitting it.
Instructions
Step 1: Establish the Status Verdict
Open by determining the project's overall health so the reader knows the headline before the detail.
- Assign one status: On Track / At Risk / Off Track / Blocked
- Base it on the gap between planned and actual, not on effort or activity
- One-sentence justification: what's driving the status this period
Step 2: Write the Executive Summary (Top of Document)
Three to five sentences a busy executive can read in 20 seconds and know: where things stand, what changed, and what you need from them.
- Lead with the status verdict and the single most important development
- State any decision needed and its deadline
- Avoid function-level detail here — that lives below
- Never bury the ask; if you need something, say so in the summary
Step 3: Build Function-Specific Sections
Write one short section per involved function. Each is scannable — 2–4 bullets, no walls of text.
Sales
- Pipeline, commitments, launch readiness, or demand signals tied to the project
- Frame in terms of revenue impact and customer-facing timing
Finance
- Budget status vs. plan, spend variance, forecast changes, approval gates
- Flag any number that has moved more than expected and why
Marketing
- Campaign timing, asset readiness, messaging dependencies, go-to-market gates
- Note anything Marketing is waiting on from other functions
Supply Chain
- Inventory, lead times, supplier status, fulfillment readiness, capacity risks
- Surface any dependency that could slip a downstream date
For each function, mark the local status inline (On Track / At Risk / Blocked) so no reader has to infer it.
Step 4: Compile the Decisions-Needed Block
List every open decision or approval as its own line item. Each must include:
- The ask: What specifically needs to happen
- Owner: Who must act
- Deadline: When it's needed by
- Impact if delayed: The concrete downstream cost of inaction
If there are no decisions needed this period, state that explicitly.
Step 5: Build the Risk & Blocker Register
For each risk or blocker, capture in a compact table:
- Risk/Blocker: One-line description
- Function affected: Which team it touches
- Severity: High / Medium / Low
- Mitigation/next step: The plan and who owns it
Order by severity, highest first.
Step 6: Close with What's Next
Three to five bullets on the priorities for the coming period, each with an owner. Keep it forward-looking and concrete — no restating what was already covered above.
Tone Calibration by Audience
- Peers: More operational detail, dependency-focused, direct about who owes what
- Leadership: Outcome- and risk-focused, tighter, decisions surfaced first
- Mixed: Executive summary carries leadership; function sections carry peers
Frame blockers as owned and in-progress, never as complaints. State bad news plainly with a next step attached — never soften a slipped date into ambiguity.
Output Format
- Structure: Executive summary → function sections → decisions needed → risk register (table) → what's next
- Length: 450–750 words
- Format: Structured document — scannable headers, short bullets, one table for the risk register
- Sections: Status verdict + Executive Summary → Sales → Finance → Marketing → Supply Chain → Decisions Needed → Risk & Blocker Register → What's Next
- Tone: Composed and direct — a manager who owns the project, names problems without spin, and always attaches an ask to a need
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The overall status verdict appears in the first line and matches the detail below it
- [ ] The executive summary states any decision needed and its deadline — no buried ask
- [ ] Every involved function has a section with an inline local status (On Track / At Risk / Blocked)
- [ ] Every item in the Decisions-Needed block has an owner, a deadline, and an impact-if-delayed
- [ ] The risk register is a table ordered by severity, highest first
- [ ] No blocker is stated without a named next step and owner
Notes
- The most common failure mode is an update that reports activity instead of status — always answer "are we on track?" before "what did we do?"
- If a function's status conflicts with the overall verdict (e.g., three green, one blocked), explain the reconciliation in the summary so leadership isn't confused.
- For recurring updates, keep the section order stable across periods so readers can scan for change fast.
- When a date slips, lead with the new date and the reason — not the apology.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills