internal-comms

Internal Communications

Core Principle

Internal comms should be brief, informative, and actionable. No filler. No padding. Respect your reader's time.

Daily Standup (DSU) Format

Structure

Yesterday: [what you completed — be specific]
Today: [what you're working on]
Blockers: [anything blocking you — or "none"]

Taglish Style (for Filipino dev teams)

Good afternoon.
Yesterday, na-finish ko yung [task].
Today, mag-wo-work ako sa [task].
[Wala naman blocker. / May blocker ako — [describe].]
That's all from me, [Name].

Passing the floor

That's all from me, [next person's name].

Rules

• Be specific — "fixed the auth bug" not "did some coding"
• Name the story/ticket if relevant
• Blockers are for the team, not personal updates
• Keep it under 60 seconds when spoken

Sprint Update

## Sprint [X] Update — [Date]

**Status:** On track / At risk / Behind

**Completed this sprint:**
- [Story/task] — [brief outcome]
- [Story/task] — [brief outcome]

**In progress:**
- [Story/task] — [current status, ETA]

**Blockers:**
- [blocker] — [what you need to resolve it]

**Next sprint focus:**
- [preview of upcoming work]

Leadership / Stakeholder Update

Use BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):

[One sentence: what they need to know]

[2-3 sentences: context and detail]

[Optional: what decision or action you need from them]

Example:

The Query Clarity Assessment Agent is code-complete and 
pending final integration review.

Unit and integration test coverage is at 95%+. 
The PR is on hold pending Anand's return to finalize 
the Document Extraction dependency.

Expected deployment: end of next sprint.

Slack / Team Message Guidelines

• Lead with the point — don't bury the main message
• @mention only when action is needed from that person
• Use threads for follow-ups to keep channels clean
• Emoji reactions to acknowledge without cluttering threads
• Mark urgent clearly — "⚠️ Heads up:" or "🚨 Action needed:"

Raising a Blocker

🚨 Blocker — [brief title]

I'm blocked on [task] because [specific reason].
What I need: [exactly what you need, from whom]
Impact: [what gets delayed if not resolved]

Tone Guidelines

• Professional but human — not robotic, not overly casual
• Direct — say what you mean without over-softening
• Constructive — focus on solutions, not just problems
• Honest — don't spin bad news; present it clearly with a path forward

Phrases to Avoid

• "Just wanted to reach out..." → just say the thing
• "Per my last message..." → restate clearly instead
• "As per usual..." → sounds passive-aggressive
• "Does that make sense?" → assumes confusion; say "Let me know if you have questions"