template
Standup update template for product managers
A PM's day is conversations, and conversations do not leave artefacts, so the update drifts into "synced with the team" and stops being read. Fix it by reporting what changed as a result of the conversation.
The skeleton is below, with three worked days and the box that writes yours from your own notes.
Meeting fragments and half decisions are enough.
5 free a month. No signup to try the first one.
scraps
Half sentences are fine.
Fri 30 Oct
Nothing to report.
Nothing planned yet.
Nothing blocking.
Paste anything on the left. Half sentences are fine.
5 of 5 free updates left in October. the Pass
Statusly rewrites what you actually did. It does not invent work, and it never will.
Three PM days, written out
The rule for all three: report the change, not the calendar.
*Done* • Wrote the invite links spec and shared it with eng and support. • Cut the scope: no bulk invites in v1, and said so in the doc. *Next* • Estimate with Mika, then put it in the next cycle. *Blocked* • Nothing blocking.
*Done* • 3 calls about the export request. All 3 want it scheduled, not one-off. • Changed the spec to scheduled-only as a result, which drops 2 weeks of work. *Next* • Re-estimate the smaller scope with Mika. *Blocked* • Waiting on legal for the data retention answer before the spec is final.
*Done* • Pulled the numbers on export usage: 41 accounts, 6 of them weekly. • Wrote the one-page recommendation and sent it up. *Next* • Chase the decision, and prep the alternative in case it is a no. *Blocked* • Waiting on the pricing decision, 5 days. Nothing ships until it lands.
The skeleton
Every line should contain a change or a number.
- "Talked to 3 customers" is a count. "All 3 want it scheduled" is the update. Include both.
- Scope cuts belong in Done. Removing work is work.
- If a decision is stuck above you, name it in Blocked with the day count. That is how it gets unstuck.
*Done* • <what you decided or wrote, and what it changed> • <who you talked to, and the conclusion> *Next* • <the next decision you are trying to close> *Blocked* • <the decision or person you are waiting on, and days>
A template still leaves you an empty box tomorrow.
This page helps once. What makes the morning stop hurting is that Statusly keeps yesterday, so what you said you would do next is already sitting in today’s Done, waiting for you to confirm it or correct it.
The blocker you never cleared is still flagged, because you never said it cleared. Correcting an update takes 30 seconds. Writing one from nothing is what you have been avoiding.
carry-over
You said you’d write the retry tests. Done?
Still blocked on Priya, 3 days.
The scraps box is empty, and optional.
Should I report meetings?
Report what changed because of them. A meeting with no outcome is not worth a line, and everyone knows it.
My standup is with engineers. What do they need from me?
Whether their next task is still the right task, and which decisions are blocked. That is nearly all of it.
What if today was all interruptions?
Say so, with the count. "Support escalations, 4 of them, no spec work" is honest and immediately understood.