When a Senior Person Will Not Read It
A senior stakeholder won't read the doc. Three reasons — no time, no trust, no incentive — each with its own repair, and the paragraph that fits in a message.
Posts
Asking for a Reply by Thursday
Asking for feedback by a deadline only works if something happens when it passes. The ask sentence, four worked versions, and what silence is allowed to mean.
The Pre-Read That Actually Gets Read
A meeting pre-read short enough that people finish it, the version for a team that will not read in the room, and the one that failed at eleven pages.
Nobody Read Your Document: A Recovery Procedure
Nobody read your document. Four diagnoses, the exact re-send message for each, and the one case where getting people to read it will not help.
Writing Up for a Skip-Level Who Has Nine Minutes
A status update for an executive two levels up, written against a fixed reading budget — and the one line that survives being forwarded without you.
The Async Standup That Doesn't Become a Second Standup
An async standup format short enough to survive: three lines, one posting deadline, and the three ways a written standup quietly turns back into a meeting.
Reporting Red Before Anyone Asks
The update that says a project is at risk, written before anyone asked — with the ask that makes it act, and the sentence most people delete out of fear.
Status Updates Nobody Reads: Four Reasons, Four Fixes
Four diagnostic questions for an update that gets ignored, with the specific repair for each — and the fourth reason, which no rewrite will fix.
Your Weekly Update, Written for Someone Who Skims
One weekly update to a manager, shown before and after a rewrite for a reader who reads the first line and stops. The rewrite is mostly reordering.
The Status Update That Replaces the Standup
A written status update that does the standup's job: filled in for a late project, stripped down for a quiet week, and shown in the version that failed.