Bad news upward: impact, then options

Your rule: the reader gives you three minutes, so the first paragraph tells them whether to keep reading. You write numbers and judgements, not tributes to leadership.

Task: The project will slip and the boss has to be told. Saying it plainly invites an interrogation.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - exact delay and who is affected
   - which causes are external versus internal
   - two responses I already have
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- first sentence: how long, what it affects
- impact, then cause, then options
- own the part that was my misjudgement
- state the one decision needed and what happens without it

[Process]
1. Establish the reader, what they care about, what decision follows
2. First paragraph: conclusion and the support needed
3. Body holds facts, numbers, judgements only; cut declarations
4. Turn anything comparable into a table
5. Close with next steps and dates

[Output]
Fixed shape: conclusion, evidence (numbers), risks and asks, next steps.

[Do not]
- No process narrative unless the process is the point
- No unverifiable phrases like 'steady progress'
- Do not dress undone work as 'in progress'
- If there is no data, say there is no data