professional-communication

# Professional Communication

## Overview

This skill provides frameworks and guidance for effective professional communication in software development contexts. Whether you're writing an email to stakeholders, crafting a team chat message, or preparing meeting agendas, these principles help you communicate clearly and build professional credibility.

**Core principle:** Effective communication isn't about proving how much you know - it's about ensuring your message is received and understood.

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

- Writing emails to teammates, managers, or stakeholders
- Crafting team chat messages or async communications
- Preparing meeting agendas or summaries
- Translating technical concepts for non-technical audiences
- Structuring status updates or reports
- Improving clarity of written communication

**Keywords**: email, chat, teams, slack, discord, message, writing, communication, meeting, agenda, status update, report

## Core Frameworks

### The What-Why-How Structure

Use this universal framework to organize any professional message:

| Component | Purpose | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **What** | State the topic/request clearly | "We need to delay the release by one week" |
| **Why** | Explain the reasoning | "Critical bug found in payment processing" |
| **How** | Outline next steps/action items | "QA will retest by Thursday; I'll update stakeholders Friday" |

**Apply to**: Emails, status updates, meeting talking points, technical explanations

### Three Golden Rules for Written Communication

1. **Start with a clear subject/purpose** - Recipients should immediately grasp what your message is about
2. **Use bullets, headlines, and scannable formatting** - Nobody wants a wall of text
3. **Key messages first** - Busy people appreciate efficiency; state your main point upfront

### Audience Calibration

Before communicating, ask yourself:

1. **Who** are you writing to? (Technical peers, managers, stakeholders, customers)
2