Hi

I used to spend hours in status meetings.

Every Tuesday. Every Thursday. Always the same story.

“Still waiting on the upstream team.” “Almost ready for testing.” “We’re about 80% there.”

It felt like a play where everyone repeated their lines just to get through the scene.

One day I stopped going. Not in protest. Just… forgot to join.

No one noticed.

That night, I tried something new. I opened Slack. Wrote a 3-line update. Hit send. Took me 90 seconds.

The next morning? One reply. “This is exactly what I needed—thank you.”

So I did it again the next week. And again. And again.

Suddenly I had 6 extra hours each week. No more useless calls. And more stakeholder trust than ever.

Here’s the format I use for every update:

• What we did
• Why it matters
• What’s next

Short. Clear. No fluff.

Takeaway: Meetings aren’t proof of progress. Updates are. Make them count.

Try this: Before your next check-in, write the update as if they’ll only read one Slack message. Then send it. You might not need the meeting after all.

P.S: This is just one of many tricks I teach in The Data Leader’s Influence System. It’s built for engineers who want to drive results without becoming project managers or playing politics.

Until next time,

Yordan