stakeholder-communication

# Stakeholder Communication Skill

A framework for adapting technical communication to different audiences, ensuring your message lands effectively whether speaking with engineers, product managers, executives, or customers.

## When to Use This Skill

- Presenting technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders
- Writing status updates for different audience levels
- Translating complex technical concepts for business partners
- Building alignment across engineering, product, and business teams
- Communicating with executives (brevity, business impact)
- Customer-facing technical communication
- Cross-functional project coordination

## Core Framework: Audience-First Communication

### The Fundamental Question

Before any communication, ask: **"Who is my audience and what do they need?"**

Different stakeholders have different:

- **Knowledge levels:** Technical depth they can absorb
- **Decision criteria:** What matters for their decisions
- **Time constraints:** How much attention they can give
- **Action orientation:** What they need to do with this information

### The Four Audience Types

| Audience | Primary Concern | Communication Style |
| -------- | --------------- | ------------------- |
| Engineers | How it works | Technical depth, implementation details |
| Product Managers | What it does | Features, trade-offs, timeline impact |
| Executives | Why it matters | Business impact, risks, decisions needed |
| Customers | How it helps them | Benefits, reliability, trust |

## Quick Adaptation Guide

### For Engineers

**Focus on:**

- Technical architecture and design decisions
- Implementation approach and trade-offs
- Code quality, testing, and reliability
- Performance characteristics and constraints

**Avoid:**

- Over-simplified explanations (they'll feel condescended to)
- Hiding technical debt or known issues
- Vague timelines without technical justification

### For Product Managers

**Focus on:**

- Feature capabilities and limitations
- Timeline