This is an episode from the Kickstarter launch of Storyteller Tactics, written with the help of Story Bank and Three Great Conflicts

“What did you CC them into that for?”

Emma’s voice is rising. Ravi has messed up.

“I thought they all knew,” Ravi says.

Actually, they probably ought to have known, Ravi thinks. You don’t hide a ten day over-run from Finance and hope it goes away. But it wasn’t Ravi’s place to say. He just assumed that Emma had already warned Finance. Ravi had copied them in, like it was a done deal. Oops.

When someone asks Ravi what he does for a living he says “I’m a Product Owner at a software design agency. It’s like being a sheepdog, matchmaker and diplomat rolled into one.”

On days like this, it feels like herding disagreeable cats, in the fog, against a deadline.

To make matters worse, there’s a pandemic raging out there. The team is losing so much bandwidth, remote-working over Zoom, everything is taking longer. Hence the over-run. Ravi knows he should be channelling his inner diplomat, getting Emma and Finance to play nice. But right now, he’s not in the mood. There’s a fight brewing, but, frankly, Emma’s got it coming.

This week’s Storyteller Tactics

Story Bank

Anytime a story gets you into trouble, chances are you haven’t checked one of these questions. Who’s your audience? Who's your story about? Who should be telling it? (Hint: Ravi failed to check the last of these questions)

Use a Story Bank to keep track of which stories you can - and can't - tell.

Three Great Conflicts

Storytellers love a good fight. Conflict gets our attention, because we need to see who comes out on top. There are lots of different sources of conflict, but these are the classics:

Conflict with Society - Ravi’s clash with Emma, Emma’s clash with Finance.
Conflict with Nature - the pandemic making everything harder.
Conflict with Self - Ravi’s in a sulk, avoiding doing what he knows is right.

See the Three Great Conflicts tactic ➔

Next episode: What does Ravi discover in the dark?