Talking to Your Manager & Team

The “BLUF” update (Bottom Line Up Front)

When you message your manager or mentor, lead with the point. Don’t build up to it.

Bad:

Hi! Hope you’re well. So I was working on the API thing yesterday and I ran into a weird issue with the auth token and I tried a few things and I’m not really sure but I think maybe there’s a bug somewhere and I was wondering if you had time to look at it?

Good:

Status: 🟡 Amber — blocked on auth bug. Bottom line: Login flow returns 401s after token refresh. Need: 10 min pairing session today or tomorrow to debug. Next: Meanwhile writing test cases so we can reproduce faster.

Use the four-line format: Status → Bottom line → Need → Next. Works for chat, email, standups, everything.

Ask better questions

Instead of “What should I do?”, try:

“Here are 2 options — which should we go with and why?”
“If we do X, the risk is Y. Is that acceptable?”
“What would ‘good enough’ look like for this milestone?”

You’ll look thoughtful, not needy. And you’ll get better answers.

Writing style — quick wins

Short paragraphs (1–3 lines).
Bullets > walls of prose.
Replace “soon”, “a bit”, “maybe” with actual dates and numbers.
Every link gets a one-line “so what?” — don’t make people click blind.