Turn a long project update into a note your manager can act on

Your manager reads a weekly update and asks: “What do you need me to decide?” Try the transformation below. A useful short note preserves the two options, what you recommend, who owns the work and when the choice is needed. The trick is deciding what must survive before asking AI to shorten anything.

1. Read the long update

419 words; sentence labels [1]–[18] are not counted. Words are counted by splitting at whitespace.

[1] Eva has completed the six-page draft of our fictional onboarding guide, which covers the first-day checklist, finding shared documents and asking for help.

[2] The headings now follow the order in which a new colleague would encounter those tasks, rather than the order in which we wrote them.

[3] We kept the introduction short because the pilot group needs instructions they can try, not a history of how the document developed.

[4] Several wording changes came from our internal discussion, including replacing a vague instruction to contact the team with a clearer route for questions.

[5] Martin still needs to check two screenshots against the current interface; neither screenshot is verified, and both remain outside the draft.

[6] The screenshots were intended to illustrate navigation, but the text explains the same steps without requiring readers to infer anything from a picture.

[7] Option A is a text-only internal pilot on Friday 16 October 2026, using the completed draft without the unchecked screenshots.

[8] Option B is an illustrated internal pilot on Monday 19 October 2026, conditional on Martin verifying both screenshots before they are included.

[9] The manager has not selected either option, so neither proposed pilot date should be described as a confirmed launch or a commitment to participants.

[10] I recommend option A for the small internal group, with the screenshots added only after verification, because the group can already try the written steps.

[11] Eva owns the draft and any text corrections; Martin owns the screenshot checks and must report whether each image matches the interface.

[12] The manager needs to choose A or B by Thursday 15 October 2026 at 15:00 so we can prepare the appropriate internal version.

[13] We discussed making the section labels more consistent, and Eva has already applied that change throughout the draft rather than leaving a separate list of corrections.

[14] There was also a suggestion to use a different title on the cover, but that cosmetic choice does not affect the two pilot options.

[15] For this update, the important distinction is between a finished text draft and images that still need checking, rather than between attractive and unattractive layouts.

[16] Once the manager chooses an option, we can communicate that choice internally without presenting the coordinator’s recommendation as if it were the manager’s decision.

[17] No customer delivery, purchase or external announcement is part of this pilot, and the update does not ask for permission to create any of them.

[18] Please keep the decision visible when forwarding this update, even if you remove the background about headings, wording discussions and the cover title.

2. Specify the decision note

Write a 100–130-word note for the manager. Preserve A and B, the condition on B, the recommendation and reason, Eva’s and Martin’s responsibilities, and the exact decision deadline. Do not turn a proposal into a confirmed decision.

3. Compare with an authored example

Decision requested: choose the onboarding-guide pilot format by Thursday 15 October 2026 at 15:00. Option A: a text-only internal pilot on Friday 16 October, using the completed six-page draft. Option B: an illustrated internal pilot on Monday 19 October, conditional on verification of both screenshots. I recommend A for the small internal group because readers can already try the written steps; add the screenshots only after verification. Eva owns the draft and text corrections. Martin owns the two outstanding screenshot checks. Neither option has been selected: these dates are proposals, not confirmed commitments. Please confirm A or B so we can prepare the appropriate internal version. No customer delivery, purchase or external announcement is requested.

4. Trace the facts back to the input

5. Remove history, keep the decision

The discussion about headings, wording and the cover title explains how the draft developed. It does not change the choice. Remove that history, but keep the unchecked screenshots: their status changes what each option means. “The guide launches Friday” fails because it turns a recommendation into a commitment.

6. Check, then try a variant

• Can you find the choice, both options and the condition on B?
• Are the recommendation and its reason labeled as advice?
• Do the owners and the full decision deadline match the input?
• Does every retained fact point to a source sentence?
• Is the note 100–130 words, without invented commitments?

Practice: change only the recommendation in sentence 10 to B, with the reason that the group should try text and verified images together. Rewrite the note. Check: the recommendation becomes B, its verification condition remains, and the Thursday decision deadline and both owners stay unchanged. Do not claim the screenshots are already checked.

Use the checklist on one appropriate non-sensitive update. If you want AI to draft the note, copy the instruction above plus the complete input, then check the answer yourself. For a reusable way to separate facts, unknowns and output requirements, see Turn a task brief into a usable prompt.