Agile Comms
What is the Agile Comms card?
Help your team communicate clearly and creatively about their work in progress.
People in work are by default busy most of the time. If you are going to win their attention, you need to make it low effort and easy to understand by Writing in Plain English.
“Here’s the essential information you have to know. If you want more detail, you can find it at this location. Readers have a choice about if, and when, they bother to read the detail.” – Giles Turnbull
How to use the Agile Comms card
Be considerate of people’s time by using these three layers of communication:
• The Lure: subject of an email, a tweet or a direct message.
• Context: body text of your email, a blog, a presentation.
• Detail: email attachment, a link to another website.
1. Craft the The Lure. Why should people read your message? Like a good billboard advertisement, it will make people stop and want to learn more. The crux of a good hook is not giving away the full answer up front. Ask a provocative question that people simply must know the answer to!
2. Distil the Context. Give the reader just enough information for them to know the basics. Like a good book summary or a trailer for a film.
3. Finally, focus on the Detail – this will have the full context; every detail, every document, every date. Make it an optional part of the communication, not the main focus.
Tips:
• Collect things to show, not tell – take screenshots, photos, sketches, notes and include them to create a visual story.
• Experiment with bad first drafts – they fix big issues early on.
• Keep each update about one main point.
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Agile Comms is one of 54 team management cards inside the Team Tactics card deck.
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