Writing Clear Email Updates

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. I didn’t realize how many problems were coming from “okay” emails until I started working on fast-moving projects. Delays, confusion, back-and-forth, most of it wasn’t complexity. It was unclear communication. So I started using a simple structure that works almost every time. Here’s the template: 📍Start with context (1–2 lines): Why are you writing this email? “Following up on our discussion on X…” “Sharing an update on Y…” This aligns the reader instantly. 📍State the purpose clearly What do you want from this email? “Objective: Finalize vendor selection for Phase 1.” No guessing. No ambiguity. 📍Add key points (3–5 bullets max) Only what matters. • Current status • Key issue/blocker • Relevant data/decision point If it’s longer, it’s not clear enough. 📍Call out the action required This is where most emails fail. “Action required: Please confirm Option A or B by EOD Friday.” Be specific on who, what, and by when. 📍Close with clarity, not politeness fluff Avoid: “Let me know your thoughts.” Instead: “Once confirmed, we will proceed with implementation.” This one change reduced back-and-forth significantly for me. Because most communication problems aren’t about intelligence. They’re about structure. People don’t need more information. They need clarity on what matters and what to do next. Before sending your next email, ask yourself: Can someone read this in 30 seconds and know exactly what to do? If not, rewrite it. #Communication #Productivity #WorkplaceSkills #Consulting #ProfessionalGrowth #CareerTips #EmailWriting

If you're embarking on a big initiative in 2025, be it professional or personal, I strongly recommend sending a monthly update (even if you're literally just emailing yourself). Here's the exact structure I've used for a few years: Context I send a monthly update to Ethena's investors. While I'm contractually obligated to do this, it's a phenomenal exercise because I'm forced to zoom out and assess progress. The monthly cadence is perfect because it's enough time for there to be something significant to say, but not so frequent that it becomes a burden. Structure 1. The TLDR/summary. No more than 3 bullet points summarizing what I think the biggest developments are. This is fuzzy and based totally on my intuition. 2. The metrics. These *have* to be the same metrics every month. I report on 8 key metrics and if I ever change a metric, I force myself to explain why I'm changing, say, how we calculate gross dollar retention. This builds accountability. 3. Team updates. It always sounds corny, but people will make or break your goal. While this is obviously true in business, I'd argue it's true even in personal goal setting. Want to get fit? You'll need to find the right coach. So I write what's going well (and not), and what open roles we have. 4. Biggest challenge. 2-3 sentences on whatever is hardest. 5. Asks. I ask my investors for help every single month. 6. Thanks. I thank everyone who did something in the past month. This is really important! It builds gratitude and people like being seen for their contributions. One last thing I do before I send an update is I read my previous month's. It helps me to see the through line and also, it's nice to see progress so concretely. I hope you read all the things/lift all the weights/accomplish whatever it is you're excited to tackle in 2025! And LMK if you think my update is missing something.

Silence is deadlier than bugs in IT. So here's my 5-part framework to keep clients happy. In IT, people think the biggest sin is missing a deadline. It’s not. It’s disappearing. No update. No email. No, "this might take longer than planned." Silence turns small delays into big problems. • It breeds assumptions • Assumptions turn into frustration • Frustration kills trust I’ve seen projects slip by two months, and the client still walked away happy. Not because the work was perfect. But because every week, they knew exactly what was going on. And people in IT know problems happen. • Servers crash • Timelines shift • Code breaks But communication is the difference between a frustrated client and a loyal one. And silence kills faster than any missed deadline ever will. Now, if you want my communication framework, here's what I recommend to people: 1// Set Communication Expectations Upfront • Define channels: 2–3 preferred methods (email for formal updates, Slack for quick questions, weekly calls for big discussions) • Set response times: “Emails within 24 hours, urgent issues within 4 hours” • Create update schedules: Weekly reports, bi-weekly demos, or milestone check-ins, but make it consistent 2// Be Proactive In Communication • Update before you’re asked, even “everything’s on track” matters • Flag problems early: “This might take an extra day because of X” • Explain the “why” behind updates and changes 3// Translate Technical into Human • Avoid jargon overload • Use analogies: “Like traffic on a highway - too many requests are slowing it down” • Focus on impact: “Making the app load 50% faster for your users” 4// Build Trust Through Transparency • Own the problems: “Here’s what went wrong and here’s our fix” • Provide realistic timelines, under-promise, over-deliver • Show your work: Screenshots, videos, or live demos 5// Listen as Much as You Talk • Ask clarifying questions • Acknowledge concerns • Adapt your style to the client And beyond this, here's what else I recommend you can do: a) This Week: • Define communication channels and response times • Create a simple weekly update template (3 bullet points) • Choose a project management tool with client visibility b) This Month: • Share client communication guidelines with your team • Practice explaining services without jargon • Set up automated project updates c) This Quarter: • Survey clients on communication preferences • Train your team on best practices • Build protocols into onboarding Ultimately, the best IT founders don’t just build great products. They build great relationships. And relationships are built on great communication. Start treating communication as seriously as you treat your code. Your clients will notice the difference. --- ✍ Tell me below: When was the last time proactive communication saved you from a client blow-up?

Have you ever sent an email and instantly wished you could take it back? Priya did. Fresh out of college, two weeks into her first job, she sent a department-wide email with the subject line “URGENT NEED YOUR HELP!!!” The CEO was copied too. That one email changed how people saw her. But it also became the start of her biggest learning curve. In three months, she went from being the intern everyone pitied to the team member trusted with client communication. Here is what she learned about writing professional emails that actually work: 1. Tone matters. All caps and too many exclamation marks do not show urgency. They show panic. How you write is how people hear you. 2. Attach before you write. Add the file first, then type your message. It is the simplest way to avoid the classic mistake of forgetting the attachment. 3. Check before hitting Reply All. One careless click can embarrass you in front of the entire company. Always double-check who is receiving your message. 4. Write clear subject lines. “Need your input by 3 PM today” is better than “Hello.” Be specific. It helps others prioritise and respond faster. 5. Proofread every word. Names, dates, and grammar reflect your attention to detail. Read your email aloud. If it sounds wrong, it probably is. 6. Keep it short. Most professionals skim. Make your point in the first few lines. Use short paragraphs or bullet points. 7. Be polite but firm. “Could you please” gets better results than “You missed the deadline.” It is not about being soft. It is about being professional. Priya did not just learn to write better emails. She learned how clarity builds trust and how respect earns attention. Every email you send either strengthens your reputation or weakens it. The next time you hit send, remember this. Your words carry your voice even when you are not in the room. ♻️ If this resonated with you, please share it with others in your network.

This week I improved a process that impacts every single person in our company. Every Monday we share a weekly agenda that keeps all teams aligned. It is how instructors know what classes are happening, how departments see what projects are moving forward, and how we talk through needs or wins from the previous week. It worked, but building it manually each time took more effort than it should. So I updated the automation behind it. We already track every class and project in a SharePoint list. Past, present, future. All the information was there. It just needed to be organized in a way that created clarity. Here is what the flow does now: → It runs automatically every week without anyone having to remember. → It pulls all classes and projects from our SharePoint list. → It separates them into three clean tables that are easy for everyone to scan. • Classes that happened this week • Classes happening next week • Projects that are still in progress → It formats all three tables into a simple OneNote agenda with consistent styling. → It sends that agenda to all employees so everyone starts the week on the same page. The outcome is exactly what we needed. ★ Teams walk into Monday already aligned. ★ Instructors can prepare for the week ahead with zero guesswork. ★ Discussions about wins, problems, and priorities happen with shared context. No one has to build a document from scratch. No one has to remember to gather the information. The agenda just shows up, every week. This is the kind of automation I love! → Just something that removes repetitive work and makes collaboration easier. If your team has information scattered across lists, spreadsheets, or multiple hands, there is usually a simple flow waiting to be built. Let’s start building!

Most people think being rejected is the worst part of job searching. It’s not. The real pain is silence. Not knowing. Waiting for an update that never comes. Wondering if you should move on… or hold on. And it’s happening more than ever — even in companies that pride themselves on “people-first culture.” Here’s what I’ve learned working with hiring teams: Ghosting rarely comes from bad intentions. It comes from broken systems. → Recruiters handling 60+ roles at once → Hiring managers who “haven’t had time to decide” → Processes with no automated follow-ups → Teams waiting for approvals that never arrive → Internal candidates being pushed quietly → Job openings paused without notifying applicants But here’s the uncomfortable truth: 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Because behind every application is a real person: Someone preparing for interviews at midnight after work. Someone rewriting their CV ten times. Someone pinning their hopes on one email. Someone telling their family they’re “waiting for updates.” Someone trying not to lose confidence in themselves. Silence doesn’t just waste time — it damages trust, motivation, and mental health. If companies want stronger employer branding, better candidate experience, and deeper talent pools, it starts with something simple: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 “𝐧𝐨.” Here’s what good companies do: ✓ Send closure emails — automatically and consistently ✓ Give short, respectful feedback when possible ✓ Explain delays instead of disappearing ✓ Update candidates when roles are paused ✓ Acknowledge effort, not just results ✓ Treat every applicant like a future candidate, customer, or advocate Because candidates don’t need a 10-paragraph breakdown. They just need clarity. A simple message means more than you think: “Thank you for your time — we’ve decided to move forward with another candidate.” “We’ve paused the role temporarily but will update you.” “You’re not the right fit for this position, but we value your interest.” That’s it. A two-second email can preserve someone’s self-esteem, respect, and trust. To every hiring team, recruiter, and manager: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 — 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫. Silence isn’t just unprofessional. It’s unnecessary. Let’s do better. 𝐏.𝐒. 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦? 👉 If you’re exploring opportunities or want to connect further, feel free to drop your resume here: https://lnkd.in/gDfu8Af5 #StopGhostingCandidates #CandidateExperience #HRMatters #RecruitmentReality #TalentAcquisition #HiringEthics

I once spent an hour crafting the perfect legal update for several executives. It had clear language. Solid structure. Anticipated every question. One exec called me to ask what the email said because he "didn't have time to read it" but sensed it was important. That stung. But here's what I learned: It wasn't a me problem. People weren't ignoring my emails because they thought I wasn't smart. It was a format problem. A language problem. A framing problem. And all of that is fixable. Most legal updates fail because they're written as if the audience is other lawyers. But your readers aren't lawyers. They don't care about enforcement trends or how cleverly you structured a clause. They want to know: • Does this impact me or my team? • Do I need to do anything? • What's at risk if we don't act? If your update doesn't answer those questions up top—in language they understand—it's getting skipped. Here's what changed everything for me: **Label your updates.** Use simple, bolded headers: - "Action Required" - "Needs Input" - "For Awareness Only" **Lead with the takeaway.** Don't bury the point. Start with: "We need to update our vendor contracts by Q3 to stay compliant, or risk X." **Mirror their language.** If execs talk about "revenue risk," use that. If they care about timelines, highlight the deadline. **Structure for skimming.** Short paragraphs. Bullet points. Bold text. Make it easy to absorb while walking between meetings. **End with next steps.** Even if it's just "No action needed; keeping you in the loop." When you write legal updates this way, everything shifts. You get more responses. You build trust. You speed up decision-making. And most importantly, you help the business move forward. Because if they can't understand what you're saying, they definitely won't act on it. What's your biggest challenge when communicating legal priorities to non-lawyers?

I sent the same 15-minute email every Monday morning for a decade at Google. It got me promoted. Multiple times. 🚀 Here's the thing nobody tells you: Your boss isn't psychic. They have 5–10 direct reports, dozens of stakeholders, and a brain that can't see what you see from your seat. If you don't tell them what you did last week, their brain fills in the gap with the problems. Most people swallow their wins, assuming their boss doesn't want to hear about them, or that telling them about them will look like bragging.  Everyone in your office is making the same wrong guess.  You guess your boss doesn't want your wins. They guess their team is "just heads-down." Your coworkers guess self-promotion is annoying. Nobody's actually checked. So everyone stays quiet, and the wrong guess wins by default. So I built a habit: Every Monday. 15 minutes. Three sections. 👉 Last week's accomplishments 👉 This week's priorities 👉 Where I could use my manager's help That's it.  Here are 6 rules that make this email actually work: 1️⃣ Be specific, not vague. Don't write "making progress on the design work." Write "7-page brand guidelines, 80% complete, but blocked on legal sign-off." 2️⃣ Mix objective + subjective wins. A milestone hit + a glowing client quote. The milestone proves you ship work. The other proves people LOVE what you ship. 3️⃣ End with one ask. "Where I could use your help" turns a brag into a collaboration. Your boss WANTS a way to be useful — hand them one. Just one. This also means they'll be more invested in your work. People support what they help build.  4️⃣ Don't skip "slow" weeks. That's shame talking. Send it anyway. The streak matters more than any single update. 5️⃣ Quote real people. Paste the exact words. "Sarah at Acme called it the best work we've seen." Quotes are 10x more memorable than summaries — and they travel up the chain word-for-word when your boss forwards your email to their boss.  Trust me, they will.  6️⃣ Keep the receipts. By March, you won't remember what you did in January. Your performance review writes itself from 12 weeks of these emails. One more pro tip: Use the word "proud" deliberately. Say, "I'm proud we hit 80% completion on the spring campaign." It signals confidence without arrogance and cues your boss to repeat it up the chain. Most people swallow their wins. Don't.  I made you a cheat sheet with the full template + the 6 rules and the ROI framework I used to upgrade my emails for performance reviews. Save it. Steal it. Schedule your first one right now to go out Monday morning.  P.S. Want more of the exact tips and scripts I used to grow from entry-level to executive at Google? Join my newsletter, Big Small Things, at the link in the comments.  #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #Promotion #WorkplaceTips

Most leaders over-communicate and under-inform. They send 47 Slack messages when they needed to send one structured update. They ping people throughout the week about things that could wait. They mistake activity for alignment. Here's what changed everything in my company: I stopped managing in real-time and started managing in rhythm. Every Sunday, I send one newsletter to my team. It's called "Slay the Week." And it contains everything my team needs to execute without me: • Active marketing campaigns (current + upcoming), so nobody's asking "wait, what are we launching?"    • Current client count vs. last week: Immediate data. Up or down. What needs to happen this week.    • Team scorecard link: Our data dashboard. Always accessible. Never lost in a thread.    • Wins from last week: What worked. What we're celebrating.    • Opportunities from last week: What the data revealed. Where we're pivoting.    • Important announcements: New hires. Policy changes. Decisions made.    • Team out of office. Who's unavailable, and when they're back.    • Leadership meeting agenda: What we're discussing. What needs to be prepped.    • Quick hits by department: Fast, tactical items that don't need a meeting or a Slack thread. One newsletter. One document. Every Sunday. My team starts Monday with clarity, not questions. They know what's happening, what's changing, and what they own. The result? Fewer meetings. Fewer interruptions. Faster execution. Because when you architect communication instead of scattering it, your team stops reacting and starts building. This is what operational sophistication looks like. Not more tools. Not more touchpoints. Just better structure. Check the comments for my video walkthrough of the entire system and download the template.

The best recruiters I know use Fridays for something called, “No update updates.” Here’s what I mean: Can we agree that the recruiting and application/interviewing process sometimes is not straightforward? Like, at all? While it can happen that things move quickly, it also can be the case that things move…slower than expected. There can be various reasons for this: Hiring team is out of office, compensation conversations, approval from executives, followup interviews needed, etc. Oftentimes candidates are left wondering: “Did they forget about me?” “Should I reach out?” “What’s happening behind the scenes?” All fair questions! I’ve learned that great recruiters share regular updates with candidates EVEN WHEN there is not a significant update! Meaning, you can still have a conversation, be professional and polite, and share updates that we hope to have a more thorough update soon. Ideally there’s some new info, but even if not, it’s all good because at least you know SOMETHING. Shoutout to those recruiters who don’t leave candidates guessing. MVPs right there.