---
name: "holding-statement-draft"
description: "Draft an incident holding statement that says what is known, what is being done, and when the next update comes."
triggers: ["holding statement", "crisis statement", "incident communication", "outage statement", "press response"]
version: "1"
---
# Holding statement draft
Use this in the first hours of an outage, breach, recall, or public complaint.
## Confirm what is known
Ask for the start time, who is affected, what they cannot do, what the team is
doing now, and whether data, money, or safety is involved. Record the source
and time of each fact. Ask who approves the statement and whether legal or
security must review it.
## Draft the statement
Keep it under 100 words:
1. What happened, with the time and who is affected.
2. What the team is doing now.
3. What people can do meanwhile, if anything.
4. When the next update comes, and where.
Write "we do not yet know" where that is true. Offer a short version for
social posts and a longer one for a status page or reporter.
## What not to say
Leave out cause, blame, suppliers, staff names, guesses about scale, promises
of refunds, and any claim that data is safe unless it has been confirmed.
List every question the statement leaves open, for the owner.
Never speculate about cause or blame or state an unconfirmed fact. Do not
publish the statement, post it, or send it to a reporter; the named approver
releases it.