AI projects require more stakeholder communication than traditional software. Models behave unpredictably, timelines shift based on data quality, and leadership often lacks context for AI-specific risks. This template helps you deliver clear, consistent updates that build trust and alignment.
Weekly Status Update Template
Use this format for regular weekly updates to your immediate stakeholders and cross-functional partners.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ WEEKLY AI PROJECT STATUS UPDATE ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ PROJECT: [Feature/Product Name] WEEK OF: [Date Range] STATUS: 🟢 On Track | 🟡 At Risk | 🔴 Blocked ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TL;DR (3 bullets max) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • [Most important update - what leadership needs to know] • [Second priority - key progress or blocker] • [Third priority - upcoming milestone or decision needed] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ KEY METRICS THIS WEEK ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐ │ Metric │ Current │ Target │ Trend │ ├─────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ Model Accuracy │ ___% │ ___% │ ↑↓→ │ │ Latency (p95) │ ___ms │ ___ms │ ↑↓→ │ │ User Adoption │ ___% │ ___% │ ↑↓→ │ │ Error Rate │ ___% │ <___% │ ↑↓→ │ │ Cost per Request │ $___ │ $___ │ ↑↓→ │ └─────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ COMPLETED THIS WEEK ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✓ [Completed item 1] ✓ [Completed item 2] ✓ [Completed item 3] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN PROGRESS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ → [In progress item 1] - Expected completion: [date] → [In progress item 2] - Expected completion: [date] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ BLOCKERS & RISKS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔴 BLOCKER: [Description] Owner: [Name] | Needed by: [Date] Ask: [What you need to unblock] 🟡 RISK: [Description] Likelihood: High/Med/Low | Impact: High/Med/Low Mitigation: [Plan to address] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ NEXT WEEK'S PRIORITIES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1. [Priority 1] 2. [Priority 2] 3. [Priority 3] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DECISIONS NEEDED ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ □ [Decision 1] - Owner: [Name] - Deadline: [Date] Context: [Brief background] Options: A) [Option] B) [Option] Recommendation: [Your recommendation] ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Executive Summary Template
For monthly or quarterly updates to senior leadership. Keep it to one page - executives want headlines, not details.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXECUTIVE AI PROJECT UPDATE ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ PROJECT: [Feature/Product Name] PERIOD: [Month/Quarter Year] EXEC SPONSOR: [Name] PM: [Your Name] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [2-3 sentences: What's the project status? What's the business impact? What decision or action is needed?] STATUS: 🟢 On Track | 🟡 At Risk | 🔴 Off Track CONFIDENCE: High / Medium / Low ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ BUSINESS IMPACT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Primary KPI: [Metric Name] │ │ Baseline: [Value] → Current: [Value] → Target: [Value] │ │ Progress: ████████████░░░░░░░░ 60% │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Revenue Impact: $[Amount] / [Timeframe] Cost Savings: $[Amount] / [Timeframe] User Impact: [Number] users affected ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MILESTONE PROGRESS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✓ [Milestone 1] Completed [Date] ✓ [Milestone 2] Completed [Date] → [Milestone 3] In Progress - [Date] ○ [Milestone 4] Planned - [Date] ○ [Milestone 5] Planned - [Date] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ KEY WINS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • [Win 1 with quantified impact] • [Win 2 with quantified impact] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TOP RISKS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Risk | Impact | Mitigation ------------------------|---------|--------------------------- [Risk 1] | High | [1-line mitigation plan] [Risk 2] | Medium | [1-line mitigation plan] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ RESOURCE & BUDGET ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Budget Spent: $[Amount] of $[Total] ([%]) AI/ML Costs: $[Amount] / month (projected: $[Amount]) Team: [#] engineers, [#] ML, [#] design ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ASK / DECISION NEEDED ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Clear, specific ask with deadline] Options: A) [Option A] - [Trade-off] B) [Option B] - [Trade-off] Recommendation: [Your recommendation and why] ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
AI-Specific Metrics to Include
Traditional software metrics don't tell the full story for AI. Include these AI-specific metrics in your updates.
Model Performance
- Accuracy / F1 score / BLEU
- Precision & recall by class
- Confidence score distribution
- Edge case performance
- A/B test lift vs. baseline
Operational Health
- Latency (p50, p95, p99)
- Throughput / requests per second
- Error rate by type
- Fallback trigger rate
- Model version in production
Cost & Efficiency
- Cost per inference
- Monthly AI/ML spend
- Token usage trends
- Caching hit rate
- Cost vs. budget variance
User & Safety
- User adoption rate
- Feature engagement
- Feedback sentiment
- Safety filter triggers
- Escalation rate
Communicating AI Risks
AI risks require special attention. Use this framework to communicate risks without causing unnecessary alarm.
AI RISK COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK ================================ For each risk, provide: 1. WHAT: Clear description (avoid jargon) ❌ "Model drift detected in embedding space" ✓ "Recommendation accuracy dropped 8% over 30 days" 2. SO WHAT: Business impact in dollars or users ❌ "Performance degradation" ✓ "Affects ~50K users, est. $20K/month revenue at risk" 3. NOW WHAT: Your plan with timeline ❌ "Team is investigating" ✓ "Retraining on fresh data, fix deployed by Friday" 4. ASK: What you need (if anything) ❌ "FYI" ✓ "Need approval for $5K additional compute for retraining" ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ RISK SEVERITY DEFINITIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔴 CRITICAL - Immediate escalation • Safety/compliance violation • Revenue impact >$100K • Major outage affecting >50% users • Reputational risk (press/social) 🟠 HIGH - Same-day communication • Significant quality degradation • Revenue impact $10K-$100K • Feature unavailable for segment • Customer escalation 🟡 MEDIUM - Weekly update • Moderate quality issues • Revenue impact <$10K • Workaround available • Timeline slippage 🟢 LOW - Monthly review • Minor issues with no user impact • Technical debt • Nice-to-have improvements
Audience-Specific Templates
Different stakeholders need different levels of detail and framing.
FOR ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Focus on: Technical metrics, architecture decisions, capacity • Model version: v2.3.1 → v2.4.0 (deployed [date]) • Infra: [Current state, scaling needs, tech debt] • Performance: Latency p95 [X]ms, throughput [Y] rps • Technical blockers: [List with owners] • Architecture decisions needed: [With trade-offs] FOR FINANCE / BUDGET OWNERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Focus on: Costs, ROI, budget variance • MTD AI spend: $[X] (budget: $[Y], variance: [%]) • Cost per transaction: $[X] (target: $[Y]) • Projected full-year: $[X] • ROI metrics: [Revenue/savings attributed to AI] • Cost optimization opportunities: [List] FOR LEGAL / COMPLIANCE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Focus on: Risk, compliance, documentation • Model changes: [Any changes to training data or behavior] • Compliance status: [GDPR, SOC2, industry-specific] • Incidents: [Any safety triggers, escalations] • Pending reviews: [What needs legal sign-off] • Documentation: [Model cards, impact assessments] FOR CUSTOMER SUCCESS / SUPPORT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Focus on: User impact, known issues, talking points • What's new: [Features customers will notice] • Known issues: [What support might hear about] • Talking points: [How to explain AI behavior] • Escalation path: [When to escalate AI issues] • FAQ updates: [New questions to document]
Recommended Update Cadence
AI PROJECT COMMUNICATION RHYTHM ================================ DAILY (Slack/async) • Model health dashboard link • Any incidents or anomalies • Blocker flags WEEKLY (Email/doc) • Status update template (above) • Metrics snapshot • Priorities and blockers BI-WEEKLY (Meeting) • Demo of progress • Risk review • Decision-making MONTHLY (Email + meeting) • Executive summary template • Roadmap progress • Budget review QUARTERLY (Presentation) • Business impact review • Strategic alignment check • Roadmap planning • Resource requests ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ PRO TIPS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✓ Send updates at consistent times (e.g., Friday 3pm) ✓ Use the same format every time - builds trust ✓ Lead with the ask if you need something ✓ Include "no update needed" for stable areas ✓ Link to dashboards for those who want details ✓ Save detailed discussions for meetings
Common Update Mistakes to Avoid
Too Much Jargon
Execs don't know what "embeddings" or "fine-tuning" mean. Translate to business outcomes.
Burying the Lead
Put the most important info first. If there's a problem, say it upfront.
No Clear Ask
If you need a decision, state it clearly with options and your recommendation.
Hiding Bad News
Surface issues early with mitigation plans. Surprises destroy trust.