What to fill in
| Placeholder | What goes there |
|---|---|
| {{SITUATION}} | we are missing the deadline by three weeks |
| {{OUTCOME}} | accept the new date, or cut scope |
| {{RELATIONSHIP}} | a client we want to keep |
Why it works
The failure mode with a difficult email is burying the point under three paragraphs of preamble, which reads as evasive and makes it worse. Asking for the hard sentence first produces something you can actually send.
Two versions is deliberate: the choice between them tells you what you actually think.