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Skill · Stakeholder communication

Stakeholder communication.

Lead with the headline; stakeholders want the conclusion first.

Get the right information to the right people at the right time, in a form they can act on. Before any message, five questions decide its shape: who the audience is, what the headline is, what the so-what is, what you want, and what format. The structure is an inverted pyramid, so the takeaway lands first and the detail follows.

The biggest gap in most stakeholder communication is starting with context and building to a conclusion. This skill puts the conclusion first and makes the ask explicit.

Audience: PMs, leads, and anyone writing a status update, preparing an executive review, communicating a delay, or managing up.

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The framework

Five questions before any message.

Answer these before drafting. Often the answers clarify the message before a word is written.

  1. 01Who is the audience? Specifically. The CFO and the VP of Engineering have different concerns, different detail tolerance, and a different action you want from each.
  2. 02What is the headline? The one sentence they should take away. It goes first, always; the narrative supports it and the data confirms it.
  3. 03What is the so-what? Stakeholders ask 'and?' implicitly. 'We hit 80 percent of the milestone, which puts the launch a week behind plan' answers it.
  4. 04What do you want? Inform, decide, escalate, ask, or celebrate. State which, and do not bury the request.
  5. 05What format? Async written for most updates, sync spoken for nuance and debate, mixed (doc read in advance, meeting to decide) for decisions.

Update templates

Four templates for the common messages.

Each follows the inverted pyramid. Cut from the bottom: if the update gets shortened, the top survives.

  1. 01

    Weekly project update

    An on-track / at-risk / off-track status, a one-sentence headline, this week and next week, risks and blockers with what you need, and metrics against target. The status indicator is what stakeholders scan for.

  2. 02

    Executive review

    The headline, three key points each with one supporting sentence, the decisions needed with options and a recommendation, the asks, and a link to detail. Executives skim, then click in when interested.

  3. 03

    Bad news

    The bad news stated plainly, what happened without euphemisms, the impact (who, how much, by when), what you are doing with owners, what you need, and when the next update lands. Do not soften the headline.

  4. 04

    Decision request

    The decision, the minimum context, the options with pros and cons, a recommendation with its reason, the need-by date, and who holds the decision rights. Not making a recommendation puts the work back on the decider.

Reference files

The reference that goes alongside the SKILL.md.

  • references/update-templates.md

    Ready-to-use templates for the most common stakeholder communications, with annotated examples.

Browse all reference files on GitHub

Bridges to other skills

The neighboring communication skills.

This skill covers internal, cross-functional updates. These cover the time-critical, the durable, and the planning it reports on.

  • During an incident

    incident-response

    Time-critical communication during an active incident runs on a different framework and different stakes. Reach for it while the incident is live, and this skill for the routine updates around it.

  • Durable internal info

    documentation-strategy

    Internal information that is not time-sensitive belongs in the documentation system, not a status update. Stakeholder communication is for the message that has a moment and an ask.

  • What it reports on

    roadmap-planning

    The roadmap produces the team, partner, leadership, and customer views; this skill is the craft of delivering each so the headline and trade-offs land.

Open source under MIT

Read the SKILL.md on GitHub.

The skill source lives in the rampstackco/claude-skills repository alongside dozens of other skills covering the full lifecycle of brand and product work. This page is a structured overview; the SKILL.md is the source. MIT licensed.

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Frequently asked questions.

What five questions come before any update?
Who is the audience (specifically, since different stakeholders care about different things), what is the headline (the one-sentence takeaway), what is the so-what (the implication that makes it actionable), what do you want (inform, decide, escalate, ask, or celebrate), and what format (async written, sync spoken, or mixed). Answering these often clarifies the message before any drafting, because the work of communication is mostly the work of deciding what you are actually trying to say.
Why lead with the headline?
Because stakeholders want the conclusion first, and the biggest gap in most communication is starting with context and building toward it. The headline goes first, always; the narrative supports it and the data confirms it. Structure the rest as an inverted pyramid (headline, so-what and request, status, risks and asks, detail) and cut from the bottom, so that if the update gets shortened in a forward or a skim, the part that matters survives.
How do I communicate bad news?
State the bad news plainly in the headline; soft headlines on bad news erode trust faster than the news itself. Give the specific facts without euphemisms, the impact (who is affected, how much, by when), what you are doing about it with owners, what you need, and when the next update will land. Do not sandwich the bad news between accomplishments, where it gets lost, and communicate it proactively rather than waiting until a missed deadline or someone else surfaces it.
What is the difference between activity and outcome?
Activity is what you did ('met with the team, reviewed the plan, updated tickets'); an outcome is what changed ('cut scope to hit the launch date'). Status updates that are 90 percent activity and 10 percent outcome are a common failure, because the reader cannot tell whether anything moved. Lead with outcomes and use activity only as supporting evidence. The same applies to a status that stays yellow three weeks running: yellow with no change is effectively red.
What cadence should updates run at?
Match it to the audience: weekly or more for the direct team, manager, and active project stakeholders; biweekly to monthly for skip-levels and cross-functional partners; quarterly for executives, the board, and the wider organization. Update people when there is something new rather than manufacturing updates to fill a calendar slot, but do set a cadence and keep to it, because silence is worse than a plain 'no change this week.' Maintain one core update and tailor the framing per audience rather than writing five separate versions.