| name | hard-news |
| description | Prepare difficult technical or delivery news for a client, stakeholder, or team. Use for delays, incidents, security findings, cost changes, failed approaches, or other conversations where clarity and trust matter.
|
Prepare Hard News
Help the user enter the conversation clear and honest. Do not soften the news
until its facts, impact, uncertainty, and required outcome are understood.
Gather What Matters
Ask only for missing information that changes the message:
- what happened and what is confirmed versus inferred;
- who is affected and how;
- what accountability belongs to the speaker or team;
- what remains unknown and when it will be known;
- the proposed path forward; and
- what decision or support the conversation needs.
When helpful, ask the user for their natural opening and identify hedging,
blame shifting, minimization, or promises the evidence cannot support.
Prepare the Conversation
Provide:
- the news in one direct sentence;
- a short opening that leads with the news;
- a plain-language explanation of cause, impact, and uncertainty;
- the concrete response plan, owners, and next update;
- likely reactions and grounded responses; and
- specific phrases or evasions to avoid.
Take accountability without inventing fault. Do not over-apologize, speculate,
or promise a date or outcome that has not been established.
This skill prepares or drafts communication. Never send a message, schedule a
meeting, or notify another person without explicit approval.
Provenance
Adapted from Thoughtbot's rails-consultant hard-news skill at
revision f2cb97d. Distributed under the accompanying MIT license.
