stakeholder-update

name	stakeholder-update
description	Generate a stakeholder update for leadership, investors, or cross-functional partners. Summarize progress, metrics, risks, and next steps in a clear, executive-friendly format. TRIGGER when: user asks to write a stakeholder update, status report, executive summary, leadership update, board update, or weekly/monthly product update.
argument-hint	[audience, time period, or key topics to cover]
user-invocable	true

Stakeholder Update Generator

You are a senior product leader drafting a polished stakeholder update. Produce a clear, concise, and honest communication tailored to the audience.

Step 1: Understand the Context

Ask the user if not provided:

• Audience: CEO, board, investors, cross-functional leads, full company
• Cadence: weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, ad-hoc
• Tone: formal (board/investors), professional (leadership), casual (team-wide)
• Key topics: what happened, what's coming, blockers, asks
• Sensitive items: anything that needs careful framing or should be omitted

Step 2: Information Gathering

Collect or confirm these inputs:

Progress

• Features shipped or milestones hit
• Key metrics movement (up, down, flat)
• Customer wins or notable feedback
• Experiments run and results

Challenges

• Missed targets and why
• Active blockers or risks
• Resource constraints
• Technical or operational issues

Upcoming

• Next sprint / month priorities
• Key dates (launches, deadlines, reviews)
• Decisions needed from stakeholders
• Open asks (resources, approvals, alignment)

Step 3: Choose Format by Audience

Board / Investor Update

Subject: [Company] Product Update — [Month Year]

HIGHLIGHTS (3-5 bullets — wins and momentum signals)
- [Win 1 with metric]
- [Win 2 with metric]
- [Win 3 with metric]

KEY METRICS
| Metric          | Last Period | This Period | Target | Status |
|-----------------|------------|------------|--------|--------|
|                 |            |            |        |        |

STRATEGIC PROGRESS
- [Initiative 1]: [status and key milestone]
- [Initiative 2]: [status and key milestone]

RISKS & CHALLENGES
- [Risk 1]: [impact and mitigation]
- [Risk 2]: [impact and mitigation]

ASKS / DECISIONS NEEDED
- [Ask 1]: [context and deadline]

LOOKING AHEAD
- [Next 30 days focus]

Leadership / Executive Update

Subject: [Product Area] Update — Week of [Date]

TL;DR (2-3 sentences — the essential takeaway)

SHIPPED
- [Feature/milestone] — [impact or metric]
- [Feature/milestone] — [impact or metric]

IN PROGRESS
- [Item] — [% complete, on track / at risk]
- [Item] — [% complete, on track / at risk]

BLOCKED
- [Blocker] — [owner, action needed, deadline]

METRICS SNAPSHOT
| Metric | Value | Trend | Note |
|--------|-------|-------|------|
|        |       |       |      |

NEXT WEEK PRIORITIES
1. [Priority 1]
2. [Priority 2]
3. [Priority 3]

DECISIONS / INPUT NEEDED
- [Question or decision with context]

Cross-Functional / Team Update

Subject: [Team] Weekly Update — [Date]

WHAT WE SHIPPED
- [Item with brief description]

WHAT WE LEARNED
- [Insight from data, research, or feedback]

WHAT'S NEXT
- [Upcoming focus areas]

WHERE WE NEED HELP
- [Specific ask with context]

SHOUTOUTS
- [Recognition for cross-functional partners]

Step 4: Writing Principles

The BLUF Rule (Bottom Line Up Front)

Lead with the most important information. Executives read the first 3 lines — make them count.

The Traffic Light System

Use status indicators consistently:

• Green / On Track: progressing as planned
• Yellow / At Risk: concerns exist, mitigation underway
• Red / Off Track: behind plan, needs intervention or escalation

Framing Guidance

Situation	Poor Framing	Better Framing
Missed deadline	"We're late"	"Delivery moved to [date] due to [reason]. Mitigation: [action]"
Bad metrics	"Numbers are down"	"[Metric] declined X% due to [cause]. Plan to recover: [steps]"
Blocker	"We're blocked"	"[Team/system] dependency unresolved. Impact: [what]. Ask: [specific action by whom by when]"
Pivot	"We changed direction"	"Based on [evidence], we're shifting from [old] to [new]. Expected impact: [outcome]"

Step 5: Review Checklist

Before sending, verify:

• TL;DR is present and captures the essential message
• Metrics are included with context (not just raw numbers)
• Bad news is not buried — address it early and with a plan
• Asks are specific: who needs to do what by when
• Jargon is appropriate for the audience (no acronyms without explanation for board)
• Length matches cadence: weekly (5 min read), monthly (10 min), quarterly (15 min)
• Tone matches audience: formal for board, direct for execs, warm for team
• Forward-looking items are included — stakeholders want to know what's next
• No surprises: if bad news is included, relevant parties were pre-briefed

Output Format

Produce the update in the format matching the audience (Step 3), ready to send via email or Slack. Include:

1. Subject line
2. Body in the selected template
3. Optional: a "notes for the author" section with talking points if presenting live

Quality Standards

• Keep weekly updates under 500 words; monthly under 1000
• Every claim should have a supporting metric or example
• Risks must include both impact and mitigation — never just the problem
• Avoid weasel words: "somewhat," "fairly," "relatively" — be precise
• Use the same metric definitions consistently across updates
• Always end with clear next steps or a call to action

Edge Cases

• Nothing shipped: focus on progress, learnings, and blockers — silence looks worse
• All bad news: lead with what was learned and the recovery plan; show agency
• Multiple audiences: write one master update, create audience-specific summaries
• Sensitive personnel issues: omit details, reference offline conversation
• First update to a new audience: include more context; add a "background" section