How to Write a Project Update Email

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1. 19 July 2026 · corrected by Emir Baycan

   Quote attributed to Josh Bernoff (Writing Without Bullshit) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in his book.; Quote attributed to Ann Handley (Everybody Writes) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in her book.; Author's name is misspelled as "Stephen Pinker" instead of the correct "Steven Pinker" in both the inline quote attribution and the references list, and the attributed quote could not be verified via ; Author's name missp

   Before

   "The information is not the problem. The sorting of the information is the problem. A project update that puts everything in one big bag forces the reader to do work you should have done." Josh Bernoff, Writing Without Bullshit [...] "The status on a project update is a promise to your stakeholders that the words you use mean what they normally mean. Drift in those words is drift in your credibility." Ann Handley, Everybody Writes [...] "Every sentence in a business update either adds information or steals space. There are no neutral sentences." Stephen Pinker, The Sense of Style [...] Pinker, S. (2014). The Sense of Style. Viking. https://stevenpinker.com/publications/sense-style [...] "You are always presenting to someone. The project update is that presentation, just without the slides." Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools

   After

   The information is rarely the problem. The sorting of the information is the problem. A project update that puts everything in one big bag forces the reader to do work you should have done. [...] A status label on a project update is effectively a promise to stakeholders that the words you use mean what they normally mean. Drift in those words is drift in your credibility. [...] Every sentence in a business update either adds information or steals space. Few sentences are truly neutral. [...] Pinker, Steven (2014). The Sense of Style. Viking. https://stevenpinker.com/publications/sense-style [...] You are always presenting to someone. A project update is that presentation, just without the slides.

   Why: Quote attributed to Josh Bernoff (Writing Without Bullshit) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in his book.; Quote attributed to Ann Handley (Everybody Writes) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in her book.; Author's name is misspelled as "Stephen Pinker" instead of the correct "Steven Pinker" in both the inline quote attribution and the references list, and the attributed quote could not be verified via ; Author's name misspelled in the references list as "Pinker, S." cited under "Stephen Pinker" in-text but the correct name is Steven Pinker; reference itself lists initial S so the misspelling is speci; Quote attributed to Roy Peter Clark (Writing Tools) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in his book.

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Full contribution timeline

1. Correction 19 July 2026

   Emir Baycan: Quote attributed to Josh Bernoff (Writing Without Bullshit) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in his book.; Quote attributed to Ann Handley (Everybody Writes) could not be verified via web search; no record of this exact wording in her book.; Author's name is misspelled as "Stephen Pinker" instead of the correct "Steven Pinker" in both the inline quote attribution and the references list, and the attributed quote could not be verified via ; Author's name missp

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