Communication Patterns

---
name: communication-patterns
description: Principal-level communication methodology — Pyramid Principle, audience analysis, written + verbal + visual modes, executive presence, narrative structure, presentations + memos + slack + email, difficult conversations, listening discipline, cross-cultural delivery, and the patterns that turn knowing the answer into the answer landing.
---

# Communication Patterns

> **Size budget: 25 KB.** Check: wc -c. Gate: node ~/.claude/scripts/token-budget.mjs --check
>
> Auto-fires on: documentation work, presentations, executive memos, board / investor decks,
> all-hands prep, written incident reports, public blog posts, RFCs / ADRs, status updates,
> performance reviews, technical proposals, conference talks, customer-facing copy, public
> statements, crisis comms, internal change announcements, hiring decisions communication, layoff /
> RIF comms, partnership communications, PR / press communications, training materials, onboarding
> content, slack threads in #incident or #leadership, email to senior stakeholders. Sister to
> `negotiation-patterns` (substance), `comms-reviewer` agent (Council Division 16), `doc-updater`
> agent, `documentation-requirements` rule, `ux-research` (audience understanding). Standards: Minto
> 1987/2009, Strunk + White 1959/2000, Heath + Heath 2007/2010, Duarte 2008/2010, Reynolds
> 2008/2019, Bezos 2017, Tufte 1983/2001/2006, Patterson + Grenny + McMillan + Switzler 2002/2022,
> Stone + Patton + Heen 1999/2010, Carnegie 1936/1981, Pinker 2014.

## Purpose

Communication is the discipline of getting an idea from your head
into somebody else's head with high enough fidelity that they can
act on it. Engineering work is judged largely on whether other
people understand it; the most brilliant technical insight that
nobody can decode produces no value.

Most people communicate badly because they write or speak from
their own perspective: they convey what they want to say, in the
order they thought of it, in the structure that makes sense to
them. Principal-level communication is structurally different: it
starts from the **audience** (what do they know, what do they
need, what do they care about), structures the message in **answer-
first** form (Pyramid Principle: governing thought + supporting
arguments), chooses the right **mode** for the audience + content
(written / verbal / visual / interactive), and edits ruthlessly so
the listener / reader hits the answer fast.

This skill provides:

1. The Pyramid Principle — answer-first writing + speaking
2. Audience analysis discipline
3. Mode selection (sync / async, written / verbal / visual)
4. Narrative + story structure (SCQA, Hero's Journey, Heath +
   Heath SUCCESs)
5. Executive presence + the senior-audience pattern
6. Written excellence (Bezos 6-pager, Strunk + White, Pinker)
7. Visual + presentation excellence (Duarte, Reynolds, Tufte)
8. Difficult conversations + Crucial Conversations methodology
9. Listening + the receive side of communication
10. Cross-cultural delivery + tone adaptation
11. Crisis + incident communication patterns
12. Anti-patterns + manipulation tactics to avoid

It does NOT cover the substance of what you communicate — that's
the domain of the underlying skill (negotiation, design,
strategy). Communication is the delivery.

## How to use this skill

This file is a ROUTING TABLE. The detail lives in `references/` and is read
just-in-time — open only the rows the task actually reaches, rather than
carrying the whole corpus on every turn.

| Topic | Read |
| --- | --- |
| **When to Fire** — file globs, keyword triggers, conversation signals, the internal-thinking exclusion | [`references/triggers.md`](references/triggers.md) |
| **Standards Cited** — structure + clarity, narrative + persuasion, conversation, listening, cross-cultural, Bezos, crisis (author · edition · ISBN) | [`references/standards.md`](references/standards.md) |
| **Standards Cited — research + documentation** — ISO / APA / Chicago / PRISMA / GRADE / Diataxis / NIST / CWE cross-cutting set | [`references/research-documentation-standards.md`](references/research-documentation-standards.md) |
| **Anti-Patterns** — the fifteen recurring communication failures + the named correction for each | [`references/anti-patterns.md`](references/anti-patterns.md) |
| **Verification Checklist** — preparation, structure, content, visual, tone, editing, high-stakes, listening | [`references/verification-checklist.md`](references/verification-checklist.md) |
| **Cross-References** — sister skills, agents, rules | [`references/cross-references.md`](references/cross-references.md) |
| **Why This Skill Exists** — the cost of communication failure + the verbatim standards-grounding list | [`references/why-this-skill-exists.md`](references/why-this-skill-exists.md) |
| **Learning hooks** — signals to watch, refinement candidates | [`references/learning-hooks.md`](references/learning-hooks.md) |

## Core Patterns

| Pattern | Topic | Read |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Pattern 1** | The Pyramid Principle — answer first, MECE support | [`references/structure-and-audience.md`](references/structure-and-audience.md) |
| **Pattern 2** | SCQA — Situation, Complication, Question, Answer | [`references/structure-and-audience.md`](references/structure-and-audience.md) |
| **Pattern 3** | Audience analysis discipline | [`references/structure-and-audience.md`](references/structure-and-audience.md) |
| **Pattern 4** | The curse of knowledge | [`references/structure-and-audience.md`](references/structure-and-audience.md) |
| **Pattern 5** | Mode selection — written vs verbal vs visual | [`references/mode-and-memos.md`](references/mode-and-memos.md) |
| **Pattern 6** | The Bezos 6-pager | [`references/mode-and-memos.md`](references/mode-and-memos.md) |
| **Pattern 7** | Slide design — Duarte + Reynolds + Tufte | [`references/visual-and-narrative.md`](references/visual-and-narrative.md) |
| **Pattern 8** | Heath + Heath SUCCESs framework | [`references/visual-and-narrative.md`](references/visual-and-narrative.md) |
| **Pattern 9** | Crucial Conversations — high-stakes sync | [`references/interpersonal.md`](references/interpersonal.md) |
| **Pattern 10** | Difficult Conversations — three conversations | [`references/interpersonal.md`](references/interpersonal.md) |
| **Pattern 11** | The listening discipline | [`references/interpersonal.md`](references/interpersonal.md) |
| **Pattern 12** | Cross-cultural communication — Meyer's Culture Map | [`references/cross-cultural.md`](references/cross-cultural.md) |
| **Pattern 13** | Crisis + incident communication — SCCT + Fink | [`references/crisis-comms.md`](references/crisis-comms.md) |
| **Pattern 14** | Written excellence — Strunk + White operational | [`references/writing-and-editing.md`](references/writing-and-editing.md) |
| **Pattern 15** | Edit ruthlessly | [`references/writing-and-editing.md`](references/writing-and-editing.md) |