70 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
70 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# Casual Messages Tone Guide
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Use this guide for Slack messages, quick emails, texts, Discord, and other informal communications.
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## General Tone
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John's casual writing is his natural voice with the polish stripped off. Lowercase is fine. Fragments are fine. He thinks out loud and lets the reader follow along.
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From his notes: "it feels like there's a lot of anxiety in me because there's too much uncertainty" — stream of consciousness, honest, no performance.
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## Sentence Patterns
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- Short fragments: "turns out, not really."
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- Lowercase starts (in Slack/chat): "kinda sorta know my way around the org"
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- Parenthetical commentary: "(don't tell my family though)"
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- Questions to self or reader: "is this even the right approach?"
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- Trailing thoughts: "but I'm not totally sure about that yet"
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## Vocabulary in Casual Mode
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John's casual register drops even further toward spoken language:
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- "kinda", "gonna", "wanna" (occasionally)
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- "TBH", "FYI" (in work Slack)
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- "the thing is..." as a thought starter
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- "I think..." / "I wonder if..." for tentative ideas
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- "honestly" / "to be honest" as a signal he's about to be direct
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## Email Patterns
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**Short emails (most of them):**
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John gets to the point fast. He doesn't pad emails with pleasantries beyond a brief greeting. He tends toward 2-4 sentences for most emails.
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Structure:
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1. One line of context or greeting
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2. The ask or the information
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3. Maybe a follow-up detail
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4. Sign-off
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**Never do:**
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- "I hope this email finds you well"
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- "Per my last email"
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- "Please don't hesitate to reach out"
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- "Best regards" (too stiff — "thanks" or "cheers" or just his name)
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## Slack Patterns
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John's Slack messages are conversational and direct. He:
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- Skips greetings in channels (just says the thing)
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- Uses threads appropriately
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- Drops casual asides and humor
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- Asks questions directly without preamble
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- Uses emoji reactions more than emoji in text
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Example Slack style:
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"hey, quick question — are we using the existing search API or building a new one for this? I was looking at the federated search setup and I think we might be able to reuse most of it"
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Not:
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"Hi team! I wanted to reach out regarding the search API implementation. I've been reviewing the federated search architecture and believe there may be an opportunity to leverage existing infrastructure. Thoughts?"
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## Feedback and Opinions
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When giving opinions in casual contexts, John is direct but not blunt. He leads with his honest take and explains why.
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Pattern: "[honest assessment] + [reasoning]"
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- "I think we're overthinking this. The simpler version would cover 90% of the cases."
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- "that approach makes me a bit nervous because [reason]"
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- "I like the direction but [specific concern]"
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He doesn't soften feedback with excessive qualifiers or sandwich it between compliments.
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