Mohit Aggarwal Executive Update Skill
Produce a stakeholder update that busy executives will actually read — structured around what they care about: decisions, risks, and numbers.
Required Inputs
Ask the user for these if not provided:
- Product update or notes (raw input to transform — even bullet points work)
- Audience (CEO, board, specific exec, or general leadership)
- Period (this week / sprint / month / quarter)
- Key metrics (what numbers matter to this audience)
Executive Communication Principles
- Lead with the headline, not the context
- Every update should answer: "So what does this mean for the business?"
- Flag decisions needed clearly — don't bury asks in paragraphs
- Be honest about risks — executives hate surprises more than bad news
Process
- Read the full product update provided
- Identify: key metric movements, decisions required, risks to flag, wins to celebrate
- Write in reverse pyramid style — most important first
- Limit to 250 words maximum for the main body
- Add a "Decisions Needed" section with clear options and your recommendation
- Validate — Confirm every decision needed has a specific option and recommendation (not just "TBD"), and every risk has a mitigation or watch plan
Output Structure
Product Update — [Date / Sprint / Month]
Headline: [One sentence on the most important thing]
By the Numbers:
Progress This Period: [3-4 bullet points, outcome-focused not activity-focused]
Risks & Watch Items: [2-3 bullets — be direct, include mitigation]
Decisions Needed:
- [Decision] — Options: [A] or [B] — Recommendation: [your view] — Needed by: [date]
What's Next: [2-3 bullets on next period priorities]
Quality Checks
- Whole update is under 250 words (if not, cut ruthlessly)
- Every metric includes a comparison point (vs. target or last period)
- Every risk has a mitigation or watch action
- Every decision needed has at least two options and a recommendation
- Written for a CFO or CEO — no jargon, all outcomes
Anti-Patterns
- Do not lead with context or background — executives read the headline first; bury the important thing below two sentences of setup and they will miss it
- Do not present metrics without a comparison point — a number without context (vs. target, vs. last period) cannot be interpreted and will prompt follow-up questions
- Do not soften or spin risks — executives rely on these updates to make resource and escalation decisions; sanitised risk sections destroy the update's utility
- Do not present a "Decisions Needed" item without a recommendation — asking an executive to decide without your view forces them to do the analytical work the PM should have done
- Do not exceed 250 words in the main body — length signals the author has not done the compression work; every word over 250 reduces the chance the update is read