Planning Written Communication

Overview

Turn an underspecified communication request into a compact writing brief. The output is a decision frame for another writing method, not automatically the finished message.

Use This Method When

• several audiences or stakeholders want different things;
• facts, approvals, quotes, legal wording, or source material must be protected;
• the channel or desired action materially changes the writing;
• the user asks for a communication strategy, message plan, content brief, or structure before drafting.

Do not add ceremony to a simple rewrite or one-line message whose audience, purpose, and constraints are already clear.

Build the Brief

1. Audience: identify the primary reader, what they already know, what they need, and any secondary audience that changes the wording.
2. Objective: state the reader outcome in one sentence: understand, decide, reply, approve, act, or remember.
3. Evidence: separate supplied facts and approved claims from assumptions, missing inputs, and claims that need verification.
4. Channel: record the medium, expected length, interaction model, timing, and any formatting or localization constraints.
5. Voice constraints: use an existing brand or personal voice when supplied. Do not invent one when the task only needs clear communication.
6. Protected material: mark quotations, citations, links, numbers, names, identifiers, legal text, code, and user-designated spans that downstream editing must preserve.
7. Structure: order the minimum information the reader needs before the desired action. Put prerequisites before instructions and decisions before supporting detail when that improves scanability.
8. Success check: define what a successful draft must make clear and what it must not imply.

Handoff Contract

Return a brief concise enough to use directly:

• primary audience;
• communication objective;
• known facts and approved proof;
• unresolved assumptions or verification needs;
• channel and length constraints;
• voice/tone constraints;
• protected spans;
• recommended information order;
• completion criteria.

If the user also asked for the final writing, hand this brief to the appropriate execution method rather than expanding this method into conversion, UX copy, brand voice, or general editing.

Guardrails

• Never manufacture facts, evidence, testimonials, deadlines, approvals, quotations, or user research.
• Do not turn uncertainty into confident prose; label what remains unresolved.
• Keep durable brand voice in writing-brand-voice-and-messaging.
• Use writing-conversion-copy for decision-oriented marketing copy and writing-product-and-ux-copy for interface text.
• Use editing-for-clarity-and-tone when the main input is an existing draft that already has a clear purpose.

Reference Signals

GOV.UK and ONS content-design guidance emphasize verified user needs, task-focused structure, plain language, and content planning before publishing. Google developer guidance reinforces audience-aware, accessible, globally understandable writing.