Free tool
The Watermelon Detector
Paste a status update. We mark the phrases that sound green and say nothing, and suggest what to write instead.
The read
PASTE AN UPDATEAn honest version
Brackets mark what only you can fill in.
What the Detector does, and does not do
It reads words
It flags phrases that report activity, confidence or absence instead of dates, numbers and owners.
It cannot see your project
An honest update can still read amber. A clever one can still read green. You know which yours is.
It ends with a rewrite
Brackets mark what only you can fill in. That is the point.
How the read is scored
Every flagged phrase counts one point. The chip says reads green when nothing is flagged, reads amber, says green when there are one to nine flags and fewer than 30 per 100 words, and reads red at ten flags or more, or 30 per 100 words or more. Matching is a fixed list of phrases in five groups. Nothing is guessed and nothing leaves the page.
Want a status one-pager that makes this the default? The Honest Status Kit has one.
See the Kit, $29