Project updates
Keeping clients and colleagues informed without spending your day on it. Filter by role or search for the moment you are writing about.
10 templates · free · no sign-up
I'm a…
Sending it as…
Same day every week. Predictability is most of the value.
Subject: [Project] — week of [date]
Hi [Name], Quick update on [project]. **Done this week:** [item], [item] **Next week:** [item], [item] **Need from you:** [thing] by [date] On track for [deadline]. [Your name]
The moment you know. Late news is worse than late work.
Subject: [Project] — revised timeline
Hi [Name], [Deliverable] won't be ready for [original date]. New date is [date]. What happened: [honest, brief reason — no essay]. What I'm doing about it: [action]. What it means for you: [impact, or 'nothing else moves']. Sorry for the shuffle. Anything urgent I should prioritise in the meantime? [Your name]
Day one. Sets expectations before anyone can form their own.
Subject: [Project] — we're off
Hi [Name], Starting on [project] today. So you know how this'll run: • Updates from me every [day] • [Tool] for files, [tool] for chat • First milestone: [deliverable] by [date] • Best way to reach me: [channel], usually within [x] hours Anything you'd like done differently, now's the easiest time to say. [Your name]
Make the ending feel deliberate rather than a file just appearing.
Subject: [Project] — all yours
Hi [Name], [Project] is finished and handed over. **Files:** [link] **How to use it:** [link or short note] **Included for the next [period]:** [what support you're offering] It's been a good one. If [next thing] comes up, you know where I am — and if you'd be up for a short testimonial, it would mean a lot. [Your name]
Say what you need, by when, and what happens if it slips.
Hi [Name] — I'm blocked on [task]. I need [specific thing] to move forward. If I have it by [date] we stay on track; after that [deliverable] slips by roughly [duration]. Is there someone else who could unblock it if you're stretched?
For people who want the headline, not the detail.
Subject: [Project] status — [green/amber/red]
[Project] — **[Green/Amber/Red]** **Where we are:** [one line] **Risk:** [the single biggest one, or 'none material'] **Decision needed:** [what, from whom, by when — or 'none'] Detail on request. [Your name]
The third small extra request. Say it before you resent it.
Subject: [Project] — a quick check on scope
Hi [Name], Happy to keep helping with these. Flagging that we've added a few things since we agreed the scope: [item], [item], [item]. Individually they're small; together they're about [x] days. Two options: I can fold them in and move delivery to [date], or we keep the original date and pick these up afterwards. Which do you prefer? [Your name]
Retainers get cancelled when the value goes invisible. Make it visible.
Subject: [Month] recap
Hi [Name], What [month] looked like: **Delivered:** [item], [item], [item] **Results:** [number] — [what changed] **Next month I'd suggest:** [priority] because [reason] Time used: [x] of [y] hours. Anything you'd like re-prioritised? [Your name]
Two weeks' notice. Say who covers, or say nobody does.
Subject: Away [dates]
Hi [Name], I'm away from [date] to [date]. Before I go I'll have [deliverable] finished. While I'm away, [cover arrangement, or 'I'll be checking email once a day for anything urgent']. Anything you need before [date], let me know this week and I'll fit it in. [Your name]
Vague asks get vague feedback. Ask narrow questions.
Subject: [Deliverable] — draft for review
Hi [Name], First draft of [deliverable]: [link] Three things I'd particularly like your view on: 1. [Specific question] 2. [Specific question] 3. [Specific question] Comments directly on the file are easiest. If I could have them by [date] we stay on schedule. [Your name]
Nothing matches that
Try a plainer word, or clear the filters above.
A short update that arrives on the same day every week beats a thorough one that arrives whenever. Three headings — done, next, and what you need from them — is enough.
The consistency does more work than the content. Someone who knows an update is coming on Friday stops sending Wednesday check-ins, because the uncertainty that produced them has gone. It costs about ten minutes a week and removes most of the interruptions that break your focus, which makes it one of the highest-return habits available in client work.
Your contact usually has a manager who asks how things are going, and your update is the raw material for that answer. One they can forward without editing makes their life easier and builds your reputation with people you never speak to.
That means status before detail, outcomes rather than tasks, and no craft jargon. Completed the responsive breakpoints means nothing outside your field; the site now works properly on phones means something to everyone. If your contact has to translate before passing it on, eventually they will stop passing it on.
A delay announced two weeks ahead is a scheduling matter. The same delay announced on the deadline is a broken promise, and the difference is entirely timing.
Separate what happened from what you are doing about it and what it means for them, because the third part is what they actually need. Resist over-explaining the cause; a long justification reads as guilt and invites scrutiny. Give a date you can beat rather than one you might just hit, since a second slipped deadline costs far more trust than the first.
The line stating what you need from them creates a written record of what you were waiting on and when. If a deadline later slips because approvals took three weeks, that history already exists and nobody has to argue about it.
The line should appear every week even when the answer is nothing, because a consistent record is credible and one that appears only when you are building a case looks defensive. Noting extra requests in the update as additions, rather than absorbing them silently, means any later conversation is about a list both parties have already seen.
Every client arrives with unstated assumptions about how often they will hear from you and how quickly you reply. If you do not state yours, theirs become the standard and you are judged against expectations you never agreed to.
The kickoff message exists to prevent that: which day updates arrive, which channel for what, your normal response time, and the first milestone. Two minutes of writing prevents the most common source of friction in client work, which is rarely quality and very often a mismatch in expected responsiveness.
Projects that fizzle out leave everyone slightly unsatisfied and make follow-on work less likely. A handover message costs ten minutes and changes how the whole engagement is remembered.
Say where the files are, how to use what you built, and exactly what support is included from here and for how long. That last part prevents the slow drip of unpaid small requests that arrives for months when the boundary was never stated. It is also the natural moment to ask for a testimonial, while the client is pleased and the detail is fresh.
