Improve your short updates

A large part of my life is spent creating, and sending, updates. Updates on how projects are going. Updates on a bug a customer is experiencing. Updates on how the updates are going… it goes on.

This means I spend a lot of time thinking about how those updates are read, and how they can be more effective. Take this update, for example:

"Rob is working on the Task"

This isn’t a (very) bad update. It does share some important information - namely that Rob is working on the Task. This, by itself, is important to share - after all, many times folks are mostly nervous because they don’t know if someone is working on the Task. When I see someone post an update like this I breathe a sigh of relief as it means they’re at least paying enough attention to provide the basic information about what’s going on.

What’s wrong with that?

Updates like this one, however, drive me nuts. While they do provide a bare-minimum about what’s going on, they also breed anxiety and frustration. They do this because they’re lacking a critical piece of information - when will you share more information?

They don’t answer “When will the Task get done” or “when will I get an update”. This information is arguably more important than “Rob is working on something” as it lets everyone know when they’ll get more information. Updates missing those two pieces of information are dangerous since folks will wonder “When will I get what I need?”.

What’s the fix?

Fortunately the fix is fairly easy… just add a time and date for a follow up. For example, consider:

“Rob is working on the Task - I’ll provide an update tomorrow at noon”.

That extra bit at the end immediately answers the question “When will I get more information”. Note that it doesn’t even require you to add anything about what to expect - just that you’ll post something. At the very least it will stop someone from immediately asking “when will it get done”, but it does far more - it gives the reader peace of mind. They don’t have to worry too much about what’s going on because they know they’ll get something tomorrow at noon.

Of course, this requires you to actually send an update tomorrow at noon! That update, however, doesn’t have to be “and the Task is done” - it could just be a followup letting folks know it’s still outstanding. This does run the risk of a string of “I’ll update you tomorrow” updates, but ideally each one includes a bit more information on where the task is (e.g. what’s the blocker, what other info is there).

The best part of this is that it takes basically zero effort - just add a short bit of text to your updates on when you’ll give more info and you’ll save everyone a lot of frustration!