Difficult Email Composer

People delay difficult emails because they're trying to do two things at once: deliver unwelcome information AND preserve the relationship. Most attempts pick one — either a blunt email they regret or a hedged draft so soft the actual message disappears. The Difficult Email Composer resolves this by routing every situation through one of six tested frameworks: bad news, pushback, rate increase, complaints, scope disputes, boundary-setting. Each framework handles both ends simultaneously.

The frameworks are not interchangeable. Bad news runs Acknowledge → Explain → Solve → Forward because the reader needs to know you're not dodging it before they care about the cause. Pushback runs Validate → Boundary → Alternative → Commitment because validation prevents defensiveness and an alternative converts "no" into "yes, differently." Rate increases run Value → Change → Context → Anchor — and critically, never apologise for the rate. "I'm sorry but I need to raise my prices" frames you as the one taking something away. The skill cuts that opening every time.

Length is capped at 200 words. Difficult emails get worse the longer they run because lengthy explanations read as guilt. Short and direct reads as confident and in control. Passive voice for hard truths gets rewritten — "the deadline was missed" hides agency, "we missed the deadline" takes ownership and is the version the client actually trusts.

Every output comes with a before-you-send checklist (does this say what needs to be said, would you feel respected receiving this, exactly one ask?) and a short note on what to do if they respond badly. If you're clearly emotionally activated when you ask, the skill will draft the email but suggest sending it tomorrow after a re-read. And when email is the wrong medium entirely — terminations, complex disputes — it tells you to start with a call and use the email as the follow-up record.