michaelsvanbeek/comms

Communications

When to Use

• Preparing an executive briefing or leadership update
• Writing a team or org newsletter
• Announcing a launch, migration, or deprecation
• Managing expectations when timelines slip
• Negotiating priorities with peers or product
• Escalating a blocking issue
• Delivering difficult messages
• Building team visibility across the org

For recurring status updates (weekly, monthly, quarterly), see the status-updates skill.

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Principles

1. Know your audience — tailor depth, language, and framing
2. Lead with "so what" — why should this person care? Start there.
3. Be direct — state your point in the first 2 sentences
4. Propose, don't just present — come with a recommendation
5. Quantify — numbers build credibility
6. Close the loop — end with a clear next step or ask

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Writing for Each Audience

Upward (Manager, VP, Exec)

They care about: business impact, risks, decisions needed, confidence level.

Executive Briefing

## [Topic] — [Date]

### Bottom Line
[1–2 sentences: the key message. Most important thing first.]

### Context
[2–3 sentences: enough background to understand]

### Options
| Option | Pros | Cons | Effort | Rec |
|--------|------|------|--------|-----|
| A | ... | ... | ... | ← |
| B | ... | ... | ... | |

### Recommendation
[Which option and why — 2 sentences]

### Ask
[Specific: "I need a decision by Friday" or "Approve option A"]

Tips:

• Don't bury the lede — if the project is off track, say so first
• Frame problems with solutions — "X is at risk. My plan: Y"
• Use their language (revenue, retention) not yours (story points, tech debt)
• Pre-wire important decisions — align with your manager before the VP meeting

Lateral (Peer EMs, PMs, Designers)

They care about: dependencies, shared priorities, capacity, coordination.

## [Topic] — Cross-Team Update

### Context
[What's happening and why it affects both teams]

### Our Plan
[What we're doing and our timeline]

### What We Need From You
[Specific, timeboxed asks]

### What You Can Expect From Us
[Deliverables and dates]

### Open Questions
[Things to resolve together]

Tips:

• Be transparent about constraints
• Negotiate, don't mandate — you have influence, not authority
• Document agreements — follow up Slack with a written summary or email
• Proactive > reactive

Downward (Your Team)

They care about: context, impact on their work, recognition, honesty.

Tips:

• Share context generously — the "why" matters more than the "what"
• Be transparent about uncertainty
• Celebrate publicly, coach privately
• Don't sugarcoat — teams respect honesty
• Repeat important messages across channels

Org-Wide (Broad Audience)

They care about: high-level impact, customer stories, team culture.

Keep it accessible to non-engineers. Good for team visibility and recruiting.

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Newsletter Format

Cadence: bi-weekly or monthly Channel: Slack, email, or Confluence Length: 3–5 minutes to read

# [Team Name] Update — [Date]

## Wins
- [Win with impact] — [brief context]
- [Win with impact]

## What's Coming
- [Initiative] — expected by [date], enables [outcome]

## By the Numbers
- [Metric]: [current] (from [previous])

## Spotlight
[Person or topic] — [what happened and why it matters]

## Links
- [Confluence page, demo recording, or dashboard]

Rules:

• Lead with impact, not effort
• Name people — recognition builds morale and visibility
• Include visuals when possible — charts, screenshots
• Keep it scannable — bullets, headers, bold key phrases
• Consistent cadence — same schedule every time

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Announcements (launches, deprecations, changes)

# [Announcement Title]

## What's Changing
[1–2 sentences]

## Why
[1–2 sentences]

## Impact
[Who is affected and how]

## Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|------|-----------|

## What You Need to Do
[Numbered action items]

## Questions?
[Slack channel, FAQ link, contact person]

Post the announcement before the change, not after.

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Escalation

Before Escalating

1. Attempt to resolve at the current level
2. Document the issue, impact, and what you've tried
3. Notify the other party that you plan to escalate

Escalation Message

## Escalation: [Issue]

### Situation
[Factual, no editorializing]

### Impact
[Business impact: customers, revenue, timeline]

### What We've Tried
[Steps taken]

### What We Need
[Specific decision or action]

### Timeline
[Urgency: "Need a decision by EOD"]

Stick to facts. Quantify impact. Propose a path forward.

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Pushing Back

"I understand the importance of [their request]. Here's the trade-off:
taking this on would mean [what we'd deprioritize].

My recommendation is [alternative]. If [their request] is the higher
priority, I'm open to adjusting — I want to make sure we're making
that trade-off intentionally."

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Delivering Bad News

1. Be direct — "We're going to miss the deadline by two weeks"
2. Own it — acknowledge what your team could have done differently
3. Bring a plan — bad news + recovery plan is 10× better than bad news alone
4. Give advance notice — get ahead of it

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Anti-Patterns

| Anti-Pattern | Fix | |-------------|-----| | Burying bad news | Lead with the most important item | | Problems without solutions | Always propose a path forward | | Jargon with execs | Translate to business language | | Vague asks | Make every ask specific and actionable | | Over-communicating | Match detail to audience; less is more for execs | | Forgetting to name people | Always credit individuals |

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Related Skills

• status-updates — Recurring cadence-based updates
• planning — Presenting plans to stakeholders
• meeting-facilitation — Running effective meetings
• inbox-management — Triaging incoming communications