How to write a team status update, with examples

A status update is a short message to your team or your manager. It says what you've finished, what comes next, and what's holding you up. You might post it to a chat channel in the morning, share it as a weekly plan on Monday, or add it as a comment in your project tool. Some teams use it in place of a short meeting.

Your colleagues read your update when it fits into their day. If something is unclear, someone has to ask, and until the answer comes, the work can stall. Here you'll learn what belongs under "Done", "Next", and "Blockers". You'll see examples from several kinds of jobs and, at the end, how to dictate an update like this with Yappee.

The three questions a status update answers

A status update in this format answers three questions:

What have you finished since your last update?
What are you working on next?
What's holding you up?

An Atlassian blog post describes this pattern for weekly updates, and GitLab's documentation describes it for daily ones. A daily update covers yesterday and today. A weekly update covers last week and this week. Some teams call this kind of update a standup.

Your update might go in a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel, answer an automated question in chat, or sit under a daily comment in your project tool. If your team has its own questions, use those. The tips below still apply.

Start by thinking about who reads your update

Digital.gov's plain language guidelines suggest asking yourself two questions before you write. What do my readers need to know? What questions will they have? The guidelines also advise putting the most important information first and any necessary background at the end.

Your own team knows the project and its abbreviations. A manager or another department often needs a sentence on what a result means. For those readers, spell out internal abbreviations and explain technical terms right where they appear.

Here's an example from customer support. For your own team, "Cleared the support inbox backlog" is enough. Your department head will get more from this version: "All open requests from last week have been answered. New requests are getting a same-day reply again."

A 2016 study of short daily meetings in twelve software teams across three companies offers a pointer. The researchers observed 79 of these meetings and interviewed 60 people. What participants liked most was sharing information with the team and the chance to discuss and solve problems. Status reports to the manager went over poorly. The study didn't look at written updates. One cautious takeaway is to write your update so your team can see what affects them and where they can help.

What belongs under "Done"

Under "Done", list what you've finished since your last update. Write down the result, not just the activity. "Worked on the presentation" says little about how far along you are. "Presentation for Friday's client meeting is ready" tells people right away.

Also say briefly why the work matters. At 37signals, staff get an automated check-in every afternoon asking what they worked on that day. According to the company's employee handbook, the answer should describe what someone is working on and briefly explain why they're doing it or why it matters. Half a sentence is often enough, such as "so sales can work with the new prices starting Monday".

A few more practical points:

Say where the result is. A link, a folder, or a file name saves others from hunting for it.
Be honest about half-finished work, for example "Draft ready, approval pending".
Be selective. Leave out routine work that doesn't matter to your readers.

An example from accounting:

Before: "Did invoices."
After: "Checked and posted all incoming invoices for September. Three invoices have open questions for purchasing. The list is in the 'Month-end close' folder."

What belongs under "Next"

Under "Next", list what you'll work on until your next update. For daily updates that's usually today. For weekly updates it's the current week. This outlook helps others plan. They can see when they'll get something from you and whether you need something from them.

Keep this part short. Two or three concrete steps are a good rule of thumb, with the most important one first. Mention dates and people when others depend on them. If a plan changes, say so in one sentence in your next update. Otherwise someone will wonder why an item you announced never shows up under "Done".

An example from an agency:

Before: "Continuing with the website project."
After: "Finish the homepage draft for Hansen Bakery by Wednesday. I'll present it at the client meeting on Thursday."

What belongs under "Blockers"

A blocker is anything that holds up your work and that you can't solve on your own. It might be a missing approval, missing access, an open decision, or information you're waiting for.

A well-described blocker answers four questions. What's stuck? What do you need? From whom? By when? If it helps, also say what happens if the help doesn't come. Address the person who can help by name.

Mention problems you can see coming, too. GitLab's documentation specifically asks whether you're blocked or will be soon. If you have no blockers right now, write "No blockers". That way others can see you didn't forget this part.

Don't let anything urgent wait until your next update. The 37signals employee handbook tells staff to work as though most requests to others will get an answer eventually, but not necessarily right away. So for an urgent blocker, message the person directly or give them a call. In your update, a short note that you've already asked is enough.

An example from HR:

Before: "Still waiting for feedback."
After: "The job ad for the team assistant position can't go live yet because the salary range is missing. Tom, can you approve the range by noon on Tuesday? Otherwise the ad won't go live until next week."

Format and timing of your update

Under the three headings, write short bullet points instead of long paragraphs. Digital.gov also recommends lists because they get details across quickly without overloading readers. In Slack, you create a bullet point by typing an asterisk and pressing the spacebar. For a numbered list, type "1." and then press the spacebar. In Microsoft Teams on desktop, select "Format" in the compose box to open the formatting options, which include lists.

The 37signals communication guide also points out that a message sent at 5 p.m. can keep someone at work longer. So send requests with a deadline early in the day. If your team has a set time for updates, stick to it.

Example of a complete status update

Here's what a weekly update could look like. The example is made up. Someone in marketing posts it to the team channel on Monday morning.

Done

Wrote the October newsletter. Lea approved it, and it's scheduled to go out on Thursday.

Analyzed the customer survey. The summary is in the team folder under "September survey".

Next

Write the copy for the autumn promotion landing page by Wednesday

Go over the survey results with sales on Thursday

Blockers

The product photos for the landing page are missing. Mira, can you send them to me by 3 p.m. on Tuesday? Otherwise the page will go live a day later.

Every item names a place, a day, or a person with a deadline.

Dictate your status update with Yappee

With Yappee, you can talk through your update instead of typing it. You record on your iPhone or Mac, whichever device is at hand. Here's how it works:

Start recording and talk freely, ideally following the three questions.
Choose the "Status Update" format. Yappee turns what you said into a finished update with "Done", "Next", and "Blockers".
Check the text and paste it into Slack, Teams, or your project tool.

Along the way, Yappee removes speech artifacts, such as filler words or false starts, and smooths out the wording. The aim is to keep the meaning of what you said.

If your team writes in English, you can still speak in your own language and have the update come out in English. Yappee supports more than 50 languages for both speech recognition and translation.

You can add client and project names like "Hansen Bakery" or internal terms to your custom dictionary. For terms where a particular translation matters to you, save your preferred translation. And if you add your job title, Yappee writes the text from your perspective.

If a blocker is urgent, Yappee can also turn the same spoken thought into a chat message that you send straight to that person.

Yappee works with what you say in the recording. So when you speak, mention names, dates, and what you need from whom by when. When you check the text, pay close attention to names, dates, and deadlines.

How to write a status update for your team