The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You need to raise a blocked or risky issue with facts, impact, options and a clear ask.
- {{recipient}}
- {{problem}}
- {{impact}}
- {{already_tried}}
- {{options}}
- {{ask}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Help me escalate a problem to {{recipient}}. I want to raise it early and with facts, so they can act, without sounding alarmist or blaming anyone. The problem (what is happening, since when, what is blocked): """ {{problem}} """ Impact if nothing changes (deadlines, customers, money, people, risk): {{impact}} What I have already tried: {{already_tried}} Options I can see, if any: {{options}} What I need from them, and by when: {{ask}} Write the message in this format, with these labeled parts: - Subject line: the issue and the decision date, for example "Decision needed by Friday: launch blocked by vendor delay". - Summary: two sentences on what is blocked or at risk and what I need. - Impact: what happens, and when, if nothing changes, in terms the reader cares about. - What I've tried: brief, so they do not suggest it again. - Options: two or three, each with its main trade-off, including what happens if we do nothing. - Recommendation: which option I suggest and why, in one or two sentences. - Ask: the specific decision, resource or intervention I need, and the date. Keep it under 250 words. The tone should be calm and factual, the way you report a problem you own, not a complaint. Rules: - Describe actions and effects, not people's character. Name another team or person only where the reader needs it to act. - Use only facts from my notes. Mark estimates as estimates, and do not overstate how bad or how certain things are. - If I listed no options, suggest at most two that follow from my notes and label them "suggested, to check". Then add "Before you send" with up to 3 checks, for example whether the people involved know I am escalating, since escalations go better when nobody hears about them second-hand. If the problem or the ask is unclear from my notes, ask me one question instead of drafting.
Variables
- {{recipient}}
- Who you are escalating to, for example "my manager" or "the program director".
- {{problem}}
- What is happening, since when and what it blocks, with the facts you have.
- {{impact}}
- What happens if nothing changes, with dates or amounts if you know them.
- {{already_tried}}
- What you have done so far and what happened, or "nothing yet".
- {{options}}
- Possible ways forward you can see, or "none yet".
- {{ask}}
- The decision, resource or help you need, and by when.
Why it works
- Format. Summary, impact, what you tried, options and a clear ask is the order a manager needs to decide quickly, with the decision date in the subject line.
- What to avoid. It describes actions rather than people and marks estimates as estimates, so the escalation is about the problem, not about blame.
- What good looks like. The tone is set as someone reporting a problem they own, which is what makes leadership more willing to step in.