Running an executive update
This playbook prepares a short, credible roadmap update for a leadership audience.
Use this when
- You have a leadership review or a written exec update coming.
- The audience wants direction and risk, not detail.
What you need before starting
- A roadmap that is already structured and mostly current.
- The date or milestone of the last update you gave them.
- If you have Pro, a milestone saved at that last update.
Step-by-step flow
- Set the framing. On the canvas, switch to Timeline and set the detail level to Summary.
- Check the roadmap. Run the Check tab and resolve critical issues. An exec update should not contain known, unaddressed problems.
- Gather what changed. Open Progress and select the time window since the last update. Read the summary tiles.
- Compare against the commitment (Pro). If you saved a milestone last time, open it and Compare to now for an exact change list.
- Pick the export. In Share, select the Executive preset. Export the one-page executive PDF (Pro), or a standard PDF.
- Save a new milestone (Pro). Save a milestone now, named for this update, so the next one has a clean comparison point.
What good looks like
- The update leads with direction and the two or three things that changed.
- Risks are named, not hidden — including low-confidence P0s.
- The document is one page, or close to it.
- There is a milestone saved for next time.
Common traps
- Showing All details to an audience that asked for Summary.
- Burying a slip. If something moved, say so; the Progress log will show it anyway.
- Forgetting to save the milestone, so next month's comparison has no anchor.