Effective Ways To Communicate Task Requirements

Clear communication is a fundamental responsibility of leadership. Early in my leadership journey, I often made statements like, "We need to think about data protection." One day, a team member, "J," approached me and asked, "What exactly do you mean by 'We need to think about data protection'?" That question made me realize that while I knew my intent, my team might not have fully understood it. From that moment on, I made a conscious effort to be more precise. Instead of vague directives, I started being more specific. For example, I would say, "We need to define our position on data protection and document our requirements. For instance, 'Data at rest must be encrypted and have a strong access policy.'" In other cases, I would state, "We need to analyze options for data protection and create a presentation based on our findings." If further discussion was needed, I would clarify, "We need to explore data protection strategies in more detail and document our final decision on implementation." Clarity in communication ensures alignment, sets expectations, and empowers teams to succeed. When messages are unclear, misunderstandings can lead to wasted effort, frustration, and missed deadlines. For example, if I had simply said, "We need to think about this," and later expected a documented decision while my team had only reflected on the topic, misalignment would have been inevitable. Conversely, when communication is precise, teams can focus their energy on execution rather than interpretation. As leaders of any sort - project leaders, technical leaders, team leaders, etc., it’s our responsibility to ensure our teams understand not just what we’re thinking, but also what action needs to be taken.

If I had a dollar for every vague update I’ve seen, I could retire from project management and live off passive aggressive email threads. The biggest project failures I’ve seen? Not caused by bad software. Caused by emails that read like riddles and meetings that could’ve been… literally anything else. Here’s what’s saved me from communication chaos: The 3C Rule: Clear. Concise. Contextual. CLEAR: Use words that actually mean something. ✘ "We need to optimize the user experience." ✔ "We need to reduce checkout time from 3 minutes to 1." (Unless “optimize” means “do nothing,” let’s be specific.) CONCISE: Get to the point before people fall asleep. ✘ "Following up on the thing from earlier that we mentioned that time..." ✔"Decision needed: Launch Feature X March 1 or 15?" (You had me at “decision.”) CONTEXTUAL: Tell people why it matters. ✘ "Please review the attached document." ✔"Please review by Friday, we can’t start dev without it." (Because no one wants to discover they’re the blocker five minutes before logging off.) The result? •Fewer emails •Fewer status meetings about status meetings •More decisions •Less collective eye-rolling Communication isn’t about saying more. It’s about saying something people actually understand. Stop writing novels. Start making sense. What’s your biggest PM communication pet peeve? I’ll go first: emails with no subject line.

The lack of clarity in organizational communication is one of the leading causes of employee frustration and turnover. In particular, unclear instructions – like the infamous “pls fix” became memes. And yet, the equally unhelpful “Do better, bosses” seems to be the most typical response. But how many have been taught the foundations of clear managerial communication? Let’s do better, shall we – and by that, I mean – let’s clarify how managers can provide clear instructions. But without micromanaging and killing creativity. In this article, I develop a clarity + creativity communication formula by modifying the 5Ws (What, Why, Who, Where, When) and 1H (How) framework used in project management. This can turn "pls fix" into: What (is the task): Streamline the presentation. Why: We want the client to know we do not waste time. How: Focus on the core message – we can deliver results with an efficient and proven process. Provide findings from the latest quarterly report and two examples.  Who: You are responsible. When: It needs to be ready by Tuesday. And then, to support innovative thinking, we can add the C (Creativity) statement like "If you come up with any suggestions for making this even more memorable/impressive/convincing, let me know." The same approach works equally well for the shop or store floor or the boardroom. Read on for more research, examples, and specific cases! None of us are born master communicators. But a structured framework supporting both clarity and autonomy can help. #communication #management #creativity #innovation #clarity #performance #motivation