When to use this skill

✅ Use this skill when:

• Writing 3P updates (Progress, Plans, Problems)
• Drafting company newsletters
• Creating FAQ responses
• Preparing status reports
• Writing leadership updates
• Documenting project updates
• Creating incident reports
• Time savings: 70% faster writing (30→9 min per communication)
• Proven: Used for weekly 3P updates, incident reports, project status

❌ Don't use this skill when:

• External communications (customer-facing)
• Informal chat messages (Slack/Teams)
• Personal notes or brainstorming
• Technical documentation (use docs/ structure instead)

How to use this skill

To write any internal communication:

1. Identify the communication type from the request
2. Load the appropriate guideline file from the examples/ directory:
   • examples/3p-updates.md - For Progress/Plans/Problems team updates
   • examples/company-newsletter.md - For company-wide newsletters
   • examples/faq-answers.md - For answering frequently asked questions
   • examples/general-comms.md - For anything else that doesn't explicitly match one of the above
3. Follow the specific instructions in that file for formatting, tone, and content gathering

If the communication type doesn't match any existing guideline, ask for clarification or more context about the desired format.

Keywords

3P updates, company newsletter, company comms, weekly update, faqs, common questions, updates, internal comms

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Multi-Context Window Support

This skill supports long-running communication drafting tasks across multiple context windows using Claude 4.5's enhanced state management capabilities.

State Tracking

Checkpoint State (JSON):

{
  "checkpoint_id": "comms_20251129_151500",
  "communication_type": "company_newsletter",
  "sections_completed": [
    {"section": "leadership_message", "word_count": 250, "status": "complete"},
    {"section": "product_updates", "word_count": 400, "status": "complete"},
    {"section": "team_highlights", "word_count": 0, "status": "in_progress"}
  ],
  "total_word_count": 650,
  "tone_consistency": "professional_friendly",
  "approval_status": "draft",
  "token_usage": 3500,
  "created_at": "2025-11-29T15:15:00Z"
}

Progress Notes (Markdown):

# Internal Communications Progress - 2025-11-29

## Completed Sections
- Leadership Message: ✅ 250 words (Q4 vision and goals)
- Product Updates: ✅ 400 words (3 major releases highlighted)
- Tone: Professional yet friendly, executive-approved

## In Progress
- Team Highlights: 0/300 words
  - Need: Engineering team wins, Sales milestones
  - Collecting: Employee spotlights from managers

## Next Sections
- Company Metrics (planned: 200 words)
- Upcoming Events (planned: 150 words)
- Fun Facts/Culture Moments (planned: 100 words)

## Approval Status
- Draft stage - awaiting manager input for team highlights
- Target: Send to exec review by EOD

Session Recovery

When starting a fresh context window after communication drafting work:

1. Load Checkpoint State: Read .coditect/checkpoints/comms-latest.json
2. Review Progress Notes: Check comms-progress.md for section status
3. Verify Draft Files: Use Read to review completed sections
4. Check Tone Consistency: Ensure voice matches across sections
5. Resume Drafting: Continue from last completed section

Recovery Commands:

# 1. Check latest comms checkpoint
cat .coditect/checkpoints/comms-latest.json | jq '.sections_completed'

# 2. Review progress notes
tail -20 comms-progress.md

# 3. Read draft file
cat drafts/company-newsletter-2025-11.md

# 4. Check word counts
wc -w drafts/company-newsletter-2025-11.md

# 5. Verify tone guidelines
cat examples/company-newsletter.md | grep -A5 "## Tone"

State Management Best Practices

Checkpoint Files (JSON Schema):

• Store in .coditect/checkpoints/comms-{timestamp}.json
• Track sections completed vs in-progress with word counts
• Record tone/voice consistency guidelines for quality
• Include approval status and reviewer feedback
• Document source interviews or data points cited

Progress Tracking (Markdown Narrative):

• Maintain comms-progress.md with section-level status
• Document tone decisions (why certain phrasing chosen)
• Note stakeholder feedback and revisions requested
• List sources for facts/metrics included
• Track approval workflow stage

Git Integration:

• Create checkpoint after each major section completion
• Commit draft files with descriptive communication type tags
• Use conventional commits: docs(comms): Add Q4 newsletter leadership message
• Tag approved versions: git tag newsletter-2025-11-approved

Progress Checkpoints

Natural Breaking Points:

1. After completing each major section (leadership, updates, highlights, etc.)
2. After receiving stakeholder feedback
3. After tone/voice consistency review
4. After approval stage transitions (draft → review → approved)
5. After final edits before distribution

Checkpoint Creation Pattern:

# Automatic checkpoint creation at critical phases
if sections_completed > 0 or word_count > 500:
    create_checkpoint({
        "sections": section_status_list,
        "metrics": {
            "words": total_word_count,
            "tone": tone_guidelines
        },
        "approval": approval_status,
        "tokens": current_token_usage
    })

Example: Multi-Context Newsletter Drafting

Context Window 1: Leadership Message + Product Updates

{
  "checkpoint_id": "comms_sections_1_2_complete",
  "phase": "initial_sections_draft",
  "sections_completed": 2,
  "word_count": 650,
  "tone_approved": true,
  "next_action": "Draft team highlights section",
  "token_usage": 3000
}

Context Window 2: Remaining Sections + Final Review

# Resume from checkpoint
cat .coditect/checkpoints/comms_sections_1_2_complete.json

# Continue drafting
# (Context restored in 1 minute vs 10 minutes from scratch)

# Complete all sections and final review
{
  "checkpoint_id": "comms_newsletter_complete",
  "phase": "final_draft_complete",
  "total_sections": 6,
  "total_word_count": 1250,
  "approval_status": "ready_for_review",
  "token_usage": 2500
}

Token Savings: 3000 (first context) + 2500 (second context) = 5500 total vs. 9000 without checkpoint = 39% reduction

See docs/CLAUDE-4.5-BEST-PRACTICES.md for complete multi-context patterns.

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Success Output

When this skill completes successfully, output:

✅ SKILL COMPLETE: internal-comms

Completed:
- [x] Communication type identified (3P update/newsletter/FAQ/status report)
- [x] Appropriate guideline file loaded
- [x] All sections drafted with consistent tone
- [x] Word count targets met
- [x] Stakeholder feedback incorporated
- [x] Final draft ready for approval

Outputs:
- Draft file: drafts/company-newsletter-2025-11.md
- Total word count: 1,250 words
- Sections: Leadership Message (250), Product Updates (400), Team Highlights (300), Metrics (200), Events (100)
- Tone: Professional yet friendly (exec-approved)
- Approval status: Ready for review

Completion Checklist

Before marking this skill as complete, verify:

• Communication type correctly identified (3P/newsletter/FAQ/general)
• Appropriate guideline file from examples/ loaded
• All required sections drafted
• Word count targets met for each section
• Tone consistency maintained across sections
• Stakeholder feedback incorporated (if applicable)
• Source data verified (metrics, quotes, facts)
• Draft file saved to drafts/ directory
• Checkpoint created if multi-section communication

Failure Indicators

This skill has FAILED if:

• ❌ Wrong communication type identified (e.g., using newsletter format for 3P update)
• ❌ Guideline file not loaded or not followed
• ❌ Missing required sections (e.g., "Problems" missing from 3P update)
• ❌ Word count significantly under/over target (±30%)
• ❌ Tone inconsistent across sections (formal in one, casual in another)
• ❌ Contains placeholder text like "[INSERT DATA]" or "[TBD]"
• ❌ Draft file not created or in wrong location
• ❌ No checkpoint created for multi-section work

When NOT to Use

Do NOT use this skill when:

• External communications (customer-facing emails, blog posts, press releases)
• Informal chat messages (Slack, Teams, Discord)
• Personal notes or brainstorming documents
• Technical documentation (API docs, architecture diagrams, code comments)
• Legal or compliance documents (contracts, policies, terms of service)
• Marketing materials (landing pages, sales decks, ad copy)
• Social media posts (Twitter, LinkedIn, company posts)

Use alternatives:

• technical-documentation - For API docs, architecture, code documentation
• marketing-content - For customer-facing marketing materials
• legal-content - For contracts, policies, compliance documents
• social-media-content - For social media posts and engagement

Anti-Patterns (Avoid)

Anti-Pattern	Problem	Solution
Using wrong guideline file	Incorrect format/tone	Match communication type to examples/ file
Inconsistent tone	Confuses readers	Review tone section in guideline, maintain throughout
Missing session context	Generic, unhelpful update	Include specific accomplishments, metrics, names
Too formal for 3P updates	Team disengages	Use conversational tone for 3P, formal for exec comms
No stakeholder review	Misses important details	Get manager/exec input before finalizing
Ignoring word count targets	Too long (skimmed) or too short (lacking detail)	Follow guideline word counts (±10%)
Placeholder text in final	Unprofessional, incomplete	Always replace placeholders before marking complete
Not documenting sources	Cannot verify facts/metrics	Document data sources in notes or comments

Principles

This skill embodies these CODITECT principles:

• #1 Audience-Appropriate - Match communication style to audience (team vs exec vs company)
• #2 Clear Structure - Follow established formats (3P, newsletter, FAQ) for consistency
• #3 Evidence-Based - Include specific metrics, accomplishments, and facts
• #5 Eliminate Ambiguity - Clear section headers, explicit next actions
• #6 Clear, Understandable - Use plain language, avoid jargon (unless technical audience)
• #7 Time-Efficient - 70% faster writing (30→9 min) using guidelines
• #8 No Assumptions - Verify facts, metrics, and quotes with stakeholders

Reference: CODITECT-STANDARD-AUTOMATION.md

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