diff --git a/bumblebee_status/modules/contrib/shell.py b/bumblebee_status/modules/contrib/shell.py
index 566de42..7043778 100644
--- a/bumblebee_status/modules/contrib/shell.py
+++ b/bumblebee_status/modules/contrib/shell.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class Module(core.module.Module):
         # if requested then run not async version and just execute command in this thread
         if not self.__async:
             self.__output = util.cli.execute(self.__command, shell=True, ignore_errors=True).strip()
+            core.event.trigger("update", [self.id], redraw_only=True)
             return
 
         # if previous thread didn't end yet then don't do anything
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ class Module(core.module.Module):
         self.__current_thread = threading.Thread(
             target=lambda obj, cmd: obj.set_output(
                 util.cli.execute(cmd, ignore_errors=True)
+                core.event.trigger("update", [self.id], redraw_only=True)
             ),
             args=(self, self.__command),
         )
diff --git a/bumblebee_status/util/cli.py b/bumblebee_status/util/cli.py
index d14dc6a..4ef25d9 100644
--- a/bumblebee_status/util/cli.py
+++ b/bumblebee_status/util/cli.py
@@ -52,7 +52,19 @@ def execute(
         raise RuntimeError("{} not found".format(cmd))
 
     if wait:
-        out, _ = proc.communicate()
+        timeout = 60
+        try:
+            out, _ = proc.communicate(timeout=timeout)
+        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired as e:
+            logging.warning(
+                f"""
+                Communication with process pid={proc.pid} hangs for more
+                than {timeout} seconds.
+                If this is not expected, the process is stale, or
+                you might have run in stdout / stderr deadlock.
+                """
+            )
+            out, _ = proc.communicate()
         if proc.returncode != 0:
             err = "{} exited with code {}".format(cmd, proc.returncode)
             logging.warning(err)