Templates keep you from overthinking. Paste, tweak, and send.
Status update (project)
Status — Green/Yellow/Red
Progress: ___
Next milestone: ___ by ___
Risk/blocker: ___ (owner ___)
Ask: ___
Example:
Status — Yellow
Progress: Integrated billing retries; 60% rolled out.
Next milestone: 100% rollout by Thu.
Risk/blocker: Need @Nina to approve SLO change for webhooks today.
Ask: Approve SLO threshold so we can finish rollout.
Decision log
Decision: ___
Context: ___
Options considered: ___
Risks/mitigations: ___
Owners/next steps: ___ by ___
Escalation
We’re blocked on ___.
Impact: ___ (users/team/timeline)
Proposed options: Option A ___ / Option B ___
Ask: Decide by ___ so we can ___.
Clarification request
Can you clarify ___?
Context: ___
Goal: ___
Constraint: ___
Deadline: ___
Post-mortem recap
Issue: ___
Impact: ___
Root cause: ___
Fix: ___
Prevention: ___
Follow-ups: ___ (owner, due)
Save these as text expanders or Slack snippets. Pair with /shortr to tighten phrasing before you hit send.